m 


pH8.5 


EEPOKT 

OF 

J.  W.  W^SHBXJRIsr 

AND 


^attttat  §emm»  ot  tht  ^xMxm  f  alky, 

FROM 

LIHLE  EOCK,  ARK,,  TO  FORT  GIBSON,  C.  N„ 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH 

RAILROAD  COMPANY. 


NEW  YORK: 

DOUGLAS  TAYLOR,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTER,  SUN  BUILDINGS, 

Corner  of  Fulton  and  Nassau  Streets. 

1  86  7. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/reportofjwwashbuOOIitt 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  presenting  this  Eeport,  the  reader  will  bear  in 
mind  that  it  was  written  in  great  haste,  and  that  it 
only  pretends  to  give,  in  an  imperfect  manner,  the  re- 
sults of  a  very  hasty  and  superficial  examination  of  the 
belt  of  country  occupied  by  the  lands  of  the  Little 
Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad  Company.    It  was 
found  impossible  to  do  more  than  to  go  over  the  ground 
and  collect  such  specimens  as  might  be  picked  up  on  the 
surface  or  found  in  the  hands  of  citizens,  many  of  whom 
promised  to  send  forward  more  pei-fect  specimens,  but 
not  one  of  whom,  so  far  as  known,  has  paid  any  further 
attention  to  the  matter.    Such  universal  apathy  as  per- 
vades the  people  of  the  region  of  country  here  attempt- 
ed to  be  brought  into  notice  is  extremely  unfortunate, 
and,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  not  calculated  to  attract  | 
the  sympathy  of  the  wide-awake  spirits  of  the  present 
day,  nor  to  encourage  those  who  are  endeavoring  to 
foster  and  build  up  works  of  internal  improvement  in 
their  midst.    But  it  is,  nevertheless,  hoped  that  the  j 
merits  of  the  country  will  prove  sufficient  of  themselves  i 
to  attract  that  attention  which  they  so  justly  deserve  ;  \ 
and  although  the  specimens  obtained  are  but  meagre  in  \ 
number  and  variety,  and  do  not  at  all  do  justice  as  | 
representing  the  value  of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  i 
Valley  of  the  Ai'kansas,  yet  it  is  hoped  that  they  will  | 
suffice  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  miner  and  capitalist  : 
to  this  almost  unknown,  yet  most  inviting  field,  far 
supeiior,  it  is  believed,  to  the  more  widely  celebrated 
but  less  populous  and  less  accessible  regions  of  Nevada, 
Montana,  Colorado,  and  other  distant  Territories. 


11 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  object  of  this  Eeport  is  to  bring  prominently 
before  the  public  the  merits  and  claims  of  this  long 
neglected,  yet  most  attractive  region;  but,  more  espe- 
cially, to  turn  in  that  direction  the  inquiries  and  the 
footsteps  of  that  large  and  valuable  class  of  persons 
who  are  seeking  in  this  New  World,  and  in  the  Far 
West,  Cheap  Homes  and  Rewaed  foe  Theie  Laboe. 
To  those  who  are  seeking  these  desirable  comforts  and 
rewards,  Arkansas  holds  out  inducements  far  superior 
to  any  other  State  or  Territory  now  open  to  immigra- 
tion.   She  possesses,  in  an  eminent  degree,  all  the 
elements  of  wealth  and  prosperity.    Her  broad  and  fer- 
tile valleys  embrace  thousands  of  acres  of  lands  yet  un- 
sold, while  her  numerous  streams  and  forests  and  moun- 
tains, and  her  productions  of  cotton,  grain,  and  other 
raw  material,  furnish  the  power  and  the  means  to  enable 
her  one  day  to  assmne  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  manu- 
facturing States.    The  temper  and  disposition  of  her 
people,  which  was,  in  her  early  settlement,  hostile  to  the 
introduction  of  immigrants,  has  been  for  many  years 
clearly  shown  in  her  raj)id  advance  in  population  and 
wealth,  in  the  erection  of  colleges  and  other  institutions 
of  learning,  and,  lately,  in  the  efforts  she  has  made  to 
induce  immigration,  to  aid  her  railroads,  and  in  the 
remodeling  and  adoption  of  a  new  system  of  public 
schools — the  three  great  levers  of  modern  progress.  At 
present  there  is  a  considerable  tide  of  Northern  emigra- 
tion turned  in  that  direction,  and  it  is  well  known  that 
they,  with  the  few  Germans  and  Irish  who  have  made 
Arkansas  their  home,  are  among  the  leading  citizens  of 
the  State,  as  their  habits  of  industry  and  economy  are 
sure  to  bring  them  wealth  and  position  in  a  very  few 
years. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Ill 


The  Little  Eogk  and  Foet  Smith  Raileoad  Compaistt 
liave  undertaken  to  publish  this  Report  solely  with  a 
view  to  induce  immigration,  knowing  that  it  must  look  ! 
to  the  futui'e  for  any  return  to  the  necessary  outlay.  I 
The  Comjoany  hope  to  complete  their  great  enterprise  | 
in  a  few  years,  when  they  will  have  ready  for  sale  to  '  I 
actual  settlers  One  Million  Acres  of  the  most  valuable  | 
agricultm^al  and  mineral  lands  in  the  Arkansas  Valley.  | 
These  lands  were  selected  and  reserved  from  entry  many  | 
years  ago,  and  lie  Avithin  twenty  miles  on  either  side  of 
the  line  of  road.    A  map  is  here\vith  published,  which 
will  show  the  road  as  projected  and  located,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Ai'kansas  River,  fi'om  Little  Rock  to  the 
western  boundary  of  the  State,  where  it  will  connect 
with  other  roads  projected  and  now  in  j)rocess  of  con- 
struction.   At  Little  Rock  it  ^vill  connect  with  other 
roads  north,  south,  and  east,  and  mil  form  in  itself  an 
indispensable  connecting  link  between  the  Southern 
system,  fi'om  Norfolk  and  Charleston,  and  the  Great 
Pacific  Road  that  must  eventually  be  built  upon  the  j 
35th  Parallel  Route,  which  wall  prove,  in  fact,  to  be  the  I 
only  practicable  route  across  the  continent  at  all  seasons  I  \ 
of  the  year.    A  large  and  prosperous  community  will,  I  j 
within  a  very  few  years,  occupy  the  fertile  valleys  of  \  \ 
the  Arkansas  and  Canadian,  which,  to  the  very  doors  of 
New  Mexico,  are  beyond  comparison,  the  richest  and  j 
finest  region  of  country  on  the  continent.  | 

It  is  to  this  invitino^  field  that  the  attention  of  those  i 
who  desire  new  and  cheap  homes,  where  labor  will  meet  | 
its  due  reward,  is  now  respectfully  directed.  [ 

J.  H.  HANEY. 

Secretary  and  Special  Agent. 

New  York,  November  1st,  1867. 


Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad  Company,  ) 
Secretary's  Office,  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  j 

June  26th,  1867. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Washbourn  : 

Dear  Sir  : — After  consultation  with  Mr.  Scott,  who  is  one 
of  our  directors,  I  have  taken  the  responsibility  of  adopting,  ! 
to  a  limited  extent,  your  recommendations ;  and  I  now  make  \ 
you  the  following  proposition :  I 

*  *  *  ■3{-  -X-  4f  •3f  *i 

Mr.  Wm.  p.  Denckla,  late  of  California,  a  miner  of  exten-  | 
sive  experience,  and  possessing  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
value  of  mineralogical  indications,  will  leave  here  in  the  course 
of  two  or  three  days,  and  will  visit  you  at  Norristown,  where,  ; 
if  you  conclude  to  accept  this  proposition,  you  will  join  him  | 
and  make  with  hira  a  rapid  reconnoissance  of  the  country  along 
and  adjacent  to  the  line  of  the  Road.    Mr.  Denckla,  being 
fully  acquainted  with  the  objects  to  be  attained,  will  instruct 
you  as  to  the  duties  to  be  performed.    1  will  say,  generally, 
that  the  extent  of  country  to  be  examined  will  be  on  both 
sides  of  the  Arkansas  River,  from  Little  Rock  to  Webber's 
Falls,  in  the  Cherokee  Nation ;  and  while  your  reconnoissance 
will  be  general  in  its  character,  it  will  be  desirable  that  you 
should  visit  some  of  the  lands  of  this  Company,  which  are  | 
known,  or  reputed,  to  be  rich  in  minerals.  | 

Upon  the  termination  of  your  field  work,  I  desire  a  full  re-  j 
port  of  your  operations,  and  a  full  and  fair  statement  of  your  | 
conclusions  upon  the  mineralogical  resources  of  the  field  ex-  | 
plored. 

(Signed)  J.  H.  Haney, 

Secretary  and  Special  Agent, 

Little  Rock,  Ark.,  August  20th,  1867. 

J.  H.  Haney,  Esq., 

Secretary  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad  Co. 
Sir  :— In  accordance  with  your  request,  by  letter  to  me,  and 
instructions  thereupon,  an  extract  from  which  letter  I  give  i 

  i 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


5 


above,  I,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Wm.  P.  Denckla,  accepted 
the  proposition  thus  made  me,  and  I  have  the  honor  to  submit 
the  following  as  our  report : 

We  have  personally  viewed  the  lands  of  the  Arkansas  Yalley, 
from  Little  Rock  to  Fort  Smith,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  for, 
say,  on  the  north  side,  from  four,  six,  and  twenty  miles  :  on 
the  south  side,  to  four  to  ten  miles  therefrom.  Where  we  have 
been  unable,  for  want  of  time,  to  go  further  into  the  hill  coun- 
try from  the  valley,  we  have  taken  great  pains  to  secure  accu- 
rate information  from  reliable  parties  knowing  such  regions, 
and,  in  general,  based  upon  specimens  shown  us.  We  have 
been  met  by  the  citizens  with  courtesy  all  along  the  Valley; 
they  have  given  us  valuable  information,  shown  us  to  spots  pos- 
sessing mineralogical  interest,  and  presented  us  with  geologi- 
cal specimens. 

We  have  thus  been  able  to  collect  a  very  interesting  cabinet 
of  minerals,  ores,  coals,  rocks,  and  fossils.  These  last  are  ex- 
traordinarily scarce  in  Arkansas,  save  in  the  Northwestern  i 
counties.  Our  limited  time  prevented  us  from  doing  full  justice 
to  this  cabinet,  for  in  these  Arkansas  hills  and  valleys  as  rich 
treasures  of  ores,  metals,  fossils  and  earths  exist  as  in  any  i 
State  in  the  Mississippi  Yalley. 

Our  report  will  be  plain  and  truthful.    We  trust  it  will  be 
so  compiled  as  to  be  read  not  only  by  scientific  men  and  by  the 
men  of  capital,  but  also  by  the  emigrant;  we  desire  that  this  ! 
latter  class  should  be  able  to  read  what  we  have  here  under-  | 
taken  to  report  to  you  for  them.    We  do  not  pretend  to  be  | 
scientific  explorers,  and  can,  therefore,  present  you  with  no  ! 
learned  report.    In  as  simple  language  as  we  can  command, 
and  as  plain,  succinct,  and  direct  as  possible,  we  present  to  | 
you,  and  through  you  to  the  world  interested,  what  we  saw,  ' 
I  heard  and  gathered ;  and  upon  this,  our  report,  we  trust  you 
will  be  able  to  induce  competent  geologists  and  mineralogists 
and  chemists  to  come  and  give  this  interesting  Yalley,  and  its 
hills,  a  systematic,  patient,  and  thorough  exploration.  j 
The  great  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the  dense  undergrowth  of  j 


6  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

f 

bush,  briar  and  bramble,  proved  a  serious  drawback  to  our 
research.  At  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  and  before  it  is  too  cold,  is 
the  better  time  for  such  reconnoissance. 

We  commence  from  Point  Remove  Bayou,  in  Pope  County.  | 
Although  we  visited  the  east  half  of  this  county  on  our  return 
from  Fort  Smith,  yet,  in  order  to  embrace  our  description  of  [ 
Pope  County  in  one  chapter,  we  introduce  our  report  with  ob-  i  i 
I  servations  made  in  the  after  part  of  our  reconnoissance;  and  jj 
i  our  report  will  be,  in  some  sort,  in  a  diurnal  form.  ; ' 


POPE  COUNTY. 

On  Point  Remove  Hills,  lead  has  been  found,  and  iron  j 
darkens  the  rocks.    Mr.  Ephraim  Lemley,  near  Glass  village,  |  \ 
on  this  stream,  section  34,  township  9,  range  18,  ploughed  up  ; 
■  sulphuret  of  lead  in  his  wheat  field,  which  lies  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  the  Point  Remove  foot-hills.    This  lead  has  also 
been  gathered  by  others  in  these  hills.    The  specimen  we  send 
you  is  a  part  of  that  Mr.  L.  ploughed  up. 

From  Point  Remove  to  Illinois  Bayou,  Pope  County,  the 
land  and  timber  are  superior.    Large  forests  of  red,  black, 
white,  post,  over-cup,  chincapin  and  other  oaks,  interspersed 
with  tall  pines,  hickory,  and  other  valuale  trees,  cover  the 
tract.    Cypress  brakes,  some  of  which  are  on  or  near  the 
railroad  lands,  also,  are  growing  here.    These  brakes  extend 
down  the  valley  to  and  below  Little  Rock,  and  average  from 
two  to  five  miles  wide.    The  country  is  broken,  yet  large 
tracts  of  level  upland  intervene.    The  water  is  good,  and  oc-  | 
casional  springs  break  out.    Water  is  easily  reached  by  dig-  \  i 
ging  from  fifteen  to  forty-five  feet.    A  great  part  of  these  up-  , 
lands,  known  throughout  the  southwest  as  "  barrens,"  are  rich^  i 
in  soil,  and  adapted  to  pasturing  and  planting  use.    Stock  of  | 
all  kinds  thrive  here,  little  food  being  required  for  them  in  ij 
winter,  which,  here  be  it  said,  is  the  case  throughout  the  en-  | 
tire  valley.    The  undergrowth  is  almost  tropical  in  its  exu-  \[ 
berance.    Fine,  luscious  wild  grapes,  muscadines,  plums,  and 
all  the  berries,  abound.    Peaches,  pears,  and  apples  grow  as 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


7 


finely  as  in  any  region  out  of  Washington  County — the  apple 
region,  par  excellence,  of  this  State.  The  native  grasses  are 
very  abundant  and  nutritious,  whilst  clover,  timothy,  herd  and 
other  cultivated  grasses,  thrive  well. 

Coal  is  found  in  many  parts  of  this  tract.  Near  K.  Potts', 
S.  20,  T.  7,  R.  19,  in  the  vicinity  of  Carrion  Crow  Mountain, 
coal  has  been  found,  and  plenteous  indications  exist.  Coal  of 
good  quality  was,  some  years  ago,  dug  and  used  from  Brook's 
coal  bank,  three  miles  southeast  from  Norristown.  This  coal  is 
from  ten  to  twenty-eight  inches  thick,  a  specimen  of  which  has 
been  promised  you.  Coal  crops  out  in  a  wash,  three-fourths  of 
a  mile  from  Norristown,  S.  18,  T.  7,  R.  20;  the  thickness  of 
this  coal  is,  as  yet,  unknown.  It  burns  well,  and  of  it  we 
have  secured  a  piece.  Coal  crops  out  on  both  sides  of  the 
mountain  just  above  Norristown,  and  upon  its  top,  where 
epsom  salts  is  also  found  in  quantity.  Iron  ore,  oxyde,  car- 
bonate, and  kidney,  abound  in  this  hill,  and  all  along  the 
waters  of  the  Illinois  Bayou,  especially  near  Norristown  and 
Old  Dwight. 

Good  workable  coal,  formerly  much  used,  and  which  is 
probably  semi-anthracite,  crops  out  across  the  Illinois  Bayou, 
on  the  Goodrich  tract  of  land,  8.  30,  T.  8,  R.  20,  six  miles  from 
the  Arkansas.  The  seam  is  from  eighteen  to  forty  inches 
thick,  and  is  easily  quarried  in  low  water,  no  attempt  having 
yet  been  made  to  penetrate  the  bed  under  the  soil.  A  shaft, 
in  this  exposed  bed  of  coal,  has  been  sunk  by  Mr.  James 
Harkey,  of  Dover,  Pope  County,  several  feet,  without  passing 
through  the  coal.  Great  quantities  have  been  taken  out  and 
used  by  smiths.  Four  men  took  out  in  two  days  over  five  | 
hundred  bushels.  Yery  little  shale  lies  on  the  exposed  coal.  | 
At  the  time  of  our  visit  through  the  region,  the  water  was  too  \ 
high  to  allow  us  to  procure  a  specimen  of  this  coal — but  we  | 
have  been  promised  a  piece  thereof,  and  we  hope  to  be  able  to  \ 
send  it  to  you  in  time.  This  coal,  such  of  it  as  has  been  used,  [ 
has  been  exposed  for  untold  ages  to  water,  sun,  and  air,  and  | 
is,  therefore,  inferior  to  the  coal  which  rests  undisturbed  for  as 
many  ages  in  the  interior.   Coal  shales  and  coal  itself  manifest 


8 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


themselves  frequently  along  this  stream  up  to  Dover,  the  county 

seat,  distant  from  the  village  of  Norristown  fourteen  miles,  as  j ; 

also  in  various  other  parts  of  this  tract  of  land  from  Poin  t  [  \ 

Remove  to  Illinois.  | 

The  prevailing  rocks  are  sand-stones  of  the  millstone-grit  ! ! 

series,  with  their  associate  shales  and  conglomerates.    About  i 

Old  Dwight,  on  the  Bayou,  six  miles  from  the  Arkansas,  near  !| 

the  Goodrich  coal-bank,  quartz,  crystals,  sulphuret  of  lead,  i 
and  hydrated  kidney  iron  ore  are  found.    A  piece  of  lapis 

lazuli,  also — 'tis  said — has  here  been  picked  up.    Mr.  Wash-  i  | 

BOURN  found  near  here,  several  years  since,  a  beautiful  speci-  j  I 

men  of  lepidodendron,  and  it  is  to  be  seen,  at  this  day,  in  the  \ 

vicinage.  !  \ 

A  great  pinery  runs  from  the  mouth  of  this  Bayou  up  to  the  1 1 

hills,  and,  more  or  less,  intersperses  the  woods  between  this  ! 

stream  and  Point  Remove.    There  are  several  mills  in  this  I, 

tract.   Tobey's  mill  at  Norristown,  the  best  in  the  country ;  1 1 

Pleas'  mill,  at  Old  Dwight ;  Gray's  mill,  in  the  pine  land,  be-  | 

tween  Dover  and  Point  Remove,  S.  25,  T.  9,  R.  19,  Cagle's  j 

mill,  Illinois  Bayou,  S.   9,  T.  8,  R.  20,  near  which,  along  ij 

the  sand  stone  ledges,  which  bluff  out  above  and  below  along  | ; 

the  stream,  lead  ore  has  been  found  ;  and  Rye  &  Hollinger's  \  \ 

new  mill,  near  Dover.    All  these  mills  are  doing  fair  business,  || 

considering  the  sparse  population  of  the  tract,  and  go  to  show  , 

the  far-looking  emigrant  how  valuable  they  will  become  when  j 

your  railroad  shall  open  the  doors  to  the  market  for  these  great  j  j 

forests  of  pine  and  oak.  \  | 

The  lowlands  of  the  river  in  this  tract,  with  those  of  the  !  | 

intersecting  tributaries,  are  very  fertile,  the  alluvium  being  j 
full  of  saliferous  deposits  and  the  ferruginous  silts  of  the  river 
for  ages  back.    The  same  may  be  said  of  the  entire  Arkansas 
Valley,  which  gives  a  cotton-producing  country,  on  either  side, 

<  for  seven  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.    Its  1 1 

capacity  for  produce  is  almost  unlimited.    Cotton  yields  from  j| 

three-fourths  to  one  and  a  half  bales  per  acre,  corn  from  forty-  ;  i 

five  to  seventy-five  bushels  per  acre,  wheat  from  fifteen  to  | 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  9 


twenty-five  bushels  per  acre,  and  other  cereals  and  grasses  in 
the  same  ratio,  with  inferior  cultivation. 

Tobacco  grows  far  better  than  in  Maryland,  while  hemp 
does  as  well  as  in  Kentucky  or  Missouri,  according  to  the  few 
tests  made  of  it.  Barley  and  rye  yield  as  heavy  as  any  lands 
outside  California. 

The  timber  of  these  river  and  creek  lowlands  are  alike 
throughout  the  Valley.  One  enumeration  here  will  answer  for 
the  valley  from  Little  Rock  to  Fort  Smith.  The  trees  of  these 
forests  are  huge,  tall  and  numberless  ;  all  the  oaks,  save  live, 
ash,  Cottonwood,  walnut,  cherry,  pecan,  hickory,  mulberry, 
sassafras  (two  feet  in  diameter),  coffee-nut  (a  large  tree),  bois 
d'arc,  locust,  (three  varieties),  gum — b.)th  black  and  sweet- 
sycamore,  maple,  cypress,  cedar,  pine,  dogwood,  redwood,  and 
other  valuable  woods,  abound  in  a  maze magnificence,  inter- 
twined with  grape — some  of  which  are  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter — and  other  vines,  fretted  with  reeds  and  tall  grasses, 
and  tufted  with  a  luxuriant  and  flowing  undergrowth. 

Very  many  living  and  cold  springs  break  out  along  the 
I  banks  and  in  the  valleys  of  Point  Remove,  Galley  Creek,  Whig 
Creek,  Illinois  Bayou,  and  their  affluents.  Some  of  these  springs 
along  the  banks  of  Illinois  Bayou  are  as  cold  and  pure  as  any 
water  in  the  world ;  and  the  waters  in  the  wells  is  sweet,  cold 
and  unfailing,  and  anywhere  obtained.  A  large  and  perpetual 
mineral  spring  wells  on  the  mountain  above  Norristown,  and 
has  been  a  noted  resort  for  invalids  for  years. 

Where  the  soil  of  the  uplands  is  inferior,  the  material 
needed — which  is  lime — lies  in  the  skirting  Boston  Mountain. 
These  lands  generally  rest  on  ferruginous  clay  or  shale,  and 
are  easily  improved.  This  applies  to  all  the  uplands  in  the 
upper  valley,  those  on  the  south  side  being  the  more  remote 
from  the  limestone,  but  which  can  easily  receive  gypsum  from 
the  vast  fields  of  the  Canadian  River,  to  say  nothing  of  that 
found  within  its  own  limits. 

Rain  falls  seasonably  in  this  region  during  the  spring  and 
summer,  and  not  too  much  in  autumn  and  winter,  and  drouth 


;   10  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

never  aiFects  the  land  beyond  the  plough.    The  mast  is  as  fine  ' 
I    as  anywhere  in  the  world  ;  walnuts,  hickory  nuts  (three  or  four  ' 
\    varieties),  pecans,  acorns  (some  of  them  very  sweet  and  large), 
V  chincapins  and  hazel  nuts — are  common  to  the  whole  valley.  ■ 

Through  this  region,  through  these  pine  and  other  forests,  i 
soils,  lowlands  and  uplands,  minerals  and  coal,  the  Railroad  | ! 
lands  run  direct ;  they  penetrate  the  heart  of  the  valley,  and, 
of  course,  participate  in  its  riches.  I 

Cane  (reeds),  once  entirely  covered  the  lowlands,  but  it  is 
now  eaten  or  dying  out.  But  few  and  very  small  prairies  oc- 
cur in  this  tract,  or,  indeed,  anywhere  in  the  North  Yalley,  j 
but  the  lands  and  grasses  are  good.  On  the  Russelville  ' 
Prairie,  near  Norristown,  the  grasses  are  good  and  the  soil  fair.  | 
After  a  rain  in  summer,  often  will  be  seen  in  these  prairies  ' 
saline  incrustations  upon  the  grass  and  herbs,  while  the  numer-  ' 
ous  "deer  licks"  in  and  about  prove  the  existence  of  saline  ^ 
matter ;  this  is  true  of  all  those  minor  prairies,  and  even  up  j 
into  Washington  and  Benton  Counties.  I 

We  have  devoted  considerable  space  to  the  description  of  ' 
this  tract  of  country,  between  Point  Remove  and  Illinois  Bayou.  [ 
We  have  so  done,  because  of  the  great  similarity  of  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  Valley  visited.    The  characteristics  of  one 
county  are,  generally,  the  exact  counterparts  of  all  the  upper 
river  counties  ;  the  rock  is  the  same,  the  soils,  the  water,  the 
mineral — prevailing  more  at  one  point  than  another ;  the  | 
woods,  the  grasses,  vines,  and  undergrowth  are  analogous;  I 
where  they  differ  we  will  record.    In  lands,  woods,  water,  sur- 
face, rock,  and  minerals,  the  region  is  almost  one.    We  shall 
therefore,  as  we  go  up  and  down  the  valley,  often  refer  to  this  : 
description,  as  answering  to  and  for  other  localities. 

On  the  evening  of  the  6th  day  of  July,  we  reached  Dover, 
the  county  seat  of  Pope.    It  is  built  on  depressed  ridges  of  the 
I  Illinois  Range,  and  is  within  one  mile  of  the  Bayou,  in  S.  27, 

fT.  9,  R.  20.    Coal  exists,  and  is  disclosed,  all  around  Dover. 
Iron  ore  also  is  in  the  rock  ;  and  very  beautiful,  clear  and  per-  | 
feet  crystals  of  silex  are  fouud  in  the  neighborhood,  one  of  '  i 
I    which  we  got.  , 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  11 

From  Dover  we  went  to  the  top  of  the  Dividing  Ridge, 
near  the  head  of  Indian  Creek,  which  flows  into  the  Big  Piney 
between  the  waters  of  the  latter  and  the  Illinois  stream.  We 
drove  first  to  David  West's,  who  lives  four  miles  from  the 
village,  on  S.  14,  T.  9,  R.  20,  and  the  same  day,  July  7th,  to 
N.  J.  Hale's,  on  the  North  Fork  of  Illinois  Bayou,  near  its 
mouth.  The  uplands  here  are  fine  and  fertile,  and  well  wa- 
tered; coal  indications  disclose  everywhere  ;  fossil  plants  are 
more  than  commonly  numerous.  A  very  fine  white  clay  i8 
exposed  in  a  small  rivulet  near  Mr.  West's,  which  will  make 
excellent  ware — it  is  adhesive.  A  specimen  of  this  clay  we  got, 
but  unfortunately  it  was  lost.  At  Buley's,  two  miles  north 
I  from  West's,  on  the  Bayou,  drift  quartz  and  drift  lead  are  found 
,  — specimens  of  each  we  send  you.  On  Buck  Mountain,  Gard- 
ner's Branch,  T.  9,  R.  19,  six  miles  northeast  from  Dover,  is 
rich  iron  ore,  in  a  bluff  of  highly  ferruginous  sandstone. 
Coal  is  also  here  found — a  ten-inch  seam,  said  to  be  good. 
East  from  Dover,  four  miles,  coal  of  excellent  quality  has  been 
lately  discovered,  said  to  be  on  railroad  land  ;  a  specimen  of 
this  coal  has  been  sent  to  us.  At  Edward  Mobley's,  S.  11, 
T.  9,  R.  20,  we  found  impressions  in  sandstone,  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  limestone  is  underneath,  A  thick  bed  of  coal  shale 
is  here  exposed. 

Mr.  Hale  lives  at  the  foot  of  the  Illinois  Hills,  a  part  of 
the  Boston  Mountain  (Ozark)  Range,  in  S.  29,  T.  10,  R.  19. 
The  lowlands  along  this  portion  of  the  Bayou  and  its  affluents 
are  of  the  finest,  and  their  capacity  for  production  of  all  kinds 
of  grain,  corn,  cotton,  tobacco,  grapes,  etc.,  is  equal  to  any 
land ;  the  timber  is  very  fine.  At  Bullock's,  two  miles  about 
west  from  Hale's,  is  a  saline  well-spring,  the  brine  of  which 
is  quite  strong,  and  was  formerly  worked  by  the  Cherokees 
when  they  owned  the  country,  as  well  as  since  by  white  men — 
said  to  yield  a  fair  per  centage  of  salt.  There  are  saline  traces 
elsewhere  in  this  region ;  good  brine,  in  all  likelihood,  could 
be  obtained  by  boring.  On  this  North  Fork  of  the  Bayou,  near 
Sam.  Morris',  about  six  miles  above  Hale's,  lead  is  said  to  be 


12  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


plentiful.    Mr.  Washburn  has  seen,  and  had  in  his  possession,  | 
some  of  the  ore  from  the  North  Fork.   A  specimen  of  lead  from  | 
I  the  East  Fork  we  send  you.  I 
From  Mr.  Hale's  we  commenced  to  climb  the  Hills,  July  8th.  | 
We  spent  two  days  among  them.  The  description  we  below  pre-  | 
sent  to  you  of  them,  will  answer  for  nearly  all  the  Hills  of  the  I 
1  Valley  above  Conway  and  Pulaski  counties.    Mule  Bute,  a  j 
I  spur  of  the  Boston  Mountain  Range,  is  a  dividing  ridge  be-  ; 
I  tween  the  waters  of  Illinois  Bayou  and  Piney.    Where  we  i 
I  camped,  its  altitude  is  say,  one  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  | 
the  Bayou.    The  rock,  as  usual,  is  of  the  millstone-grit  form-  j 
ation,  with  its  shales  and  conglomerates,  the  latter  being  | 
more  than  commonly  exposed.    Evidence  of  iron  is  seen  in  \ 
I    almost  every  rock,  and  coal  frequently  sends  out  its  traces. 
I  The  soil  on  the  slopes  and  height,  which  is  table-land,  is,  for 
]  \  the  most  part,  tillable.    The  range  is  very  fine,  the  mast  supe- 
|  |  rior,  and  springs  break  out  at  convenient  distances,  and  is 
i '  very  fine  for  stock  raising — especially  sheep.  The  timber,  both 
pine  and  oak,  is  dense,  and  excelled  by  no  region. 

We  descended  to  Levi  Creek,  a  small  afiluent  of  Big  Piney, 
I  and  struck  about  four  miles  from  its  mouth,  say  one  hundred  i 
!  and  twenty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Arkansas  river  at 
i  the  mouth  of  Piney.  At  and  around  the  mouth  of  this  streamlet 
:  is  "  Bullfrogtown  " — so  named  by  the  Cherokees- a  thriving  I 
and  very  populous  settlement  of  very  fine  land  on  Big  Piney  | 
about  sixteen  miles  northwest  from  Dover.     Railroad  lands  I 
run  in  the  vicinity.  At  the  point  where  we  struck  Levi  Creek,  I 
S.  9,  T.  10,  R.  20,  is  a  vast  ledge  of  rock,  between  the  sand- 
stone,  which  has  been  pronounced  granite,  and  for  which  we 
visited  the  spot.    We  found  no  granite,  but  a  hard,  firm  and 
compact  conglomerate,  the  pebbles  whereof  were  uniformly 
minute  and  all  of  quartz ;  the  rock  is  almost  a  quartz,  so  full 
is  it  of  pebbles.    These  pebbles  are  all  sea-worn ;  the  rock 
is  of  a  dark  bluish  gray  color — traces  of  iron,  adhering  to  the 
outside.    It  is  doubtless  an  excellent  buhr  stone,  which  we 
'  call  it — accessible  from  Piney.    Competent  judges  have  seen 

i 

i'   


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  PORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


13 


and  pronounced  it  an  excellent  rock  for  buhr  or  millstones. 
The  ledge  is  exposed,  say,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  lies  in 
place,  and  runs  from  northeast  to  southwest ;  large  blocks  of 
it  lay,  as  if  inviting  the  millers'  pick — a  specimen  sent  you.  ! 
This  ledge  was  planked  and  overlaid  by  beds  of  shale  two  to  ' 
eight  feet  thick  ;  it  is  in  the  midst  of  superb  pines  and  oaks. 
At  the  head  of  the  stream  is  a  large  and  ever-flowing  spring  of 
clear  cold  water.    This  spring  and  stream  will  supply  mills. 

On  a  depression  of  the  ridge  between  the  waters  of  Levi  i 
Creek  and  Mill  Branch,  a  small  tributary  of  Illinois  Bayou,  is  ! 
one  of  the  finest  forests  of  white  oak,  interspersed  with  pine 
and  other  oaks,  to  be  found  in  Arkansas.  The  grass  and  ' 
herbage  are  luxuriant ;  hillsides  steep  from  bench  to  bench,  i 
Immense  quantities  of  whortleberries  we  saw,  and  great  profu-  ! 
sion  of  wild  grapes ;  game  is  abundant,  as  it  is  everywhere  in  j 
the  Hills.  Our  long  description  of  this  hill  is,  in  truth,  a  j 
picture  of  the  Range. 

On  Indian  Creek,  which  heads  in  the  hill  where  we  camped, 
and  which  is  a  considerable  stream  flowing  into  Big  Piney,  ten  ! 
miles  eastward  from  the  ledge  mentioned  above,  is  a  very  hard,  ! 
but  coarse  conglomerate,  and  which  has  been  used  for  mill-  | 
stones.    A  fine  grindstone  grit,  exposed  for  half  a  mile,  lies 
on  the  head  of  Sloane  Creek,  a  small  stream  entering  Indian 
Creek  near  the  white  oak  forest. 

These  streams.  Point  Remove,  Galley  Creek,  Whig  Creek,  I 
near  Norristown,  Illinois  Bayou,  with  its  three  forks  and  tribu-  \ 
taries,  and  both  the  Pineys  and  their  affluents,  all  afford  mill  , 
sites,  and  run  through,  or,  in  some  neighborhoods,  to,  fine  pine-  } 
ries,  interspersed  with  oaks  and  other  woods.    The  best  and  \ 
greatest  forest  of  pine,  north  of  the  Arkansas  River,  lies  i 
between  the  waters  of  Illinois  Bayou  and  Piney,  projecting, 
with  less  dense  pines,  down  to  Point  Remove  on  the  east,  and 
up  to  Spadra  on  the  west.    This  pine  forest  abuts  for  miles  on 
the  Arkansas  River,  indeed,  crosses  it,  and  it  extends  back  to  | 
the  Boston  Mountains.    The  Railroad  lands  run  direct  through 
it.    Many  mills  are  in  the  region,  and  all  sawing.  Shinn's 


14 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


mill,  S.  30,  T.  8,  R.  21 ;  Bennett's  mill,  about  S.  19,  T.  8,  |i 
R.  21,  with  several  old  mills.  Joe  Wilson's  mill,  on  Piney  I 
Creek,  in  a  populous  settlement,  is  in  S.  15,  T.  9,  R.  21.  Fine 
lands  in  this  neighborhood,  both  bottom  and  upland.  Coal  has 
been  found  near  here,  and  iron  exhibits  in  the  rock.  Porter's 
mill  is  in  the  heart  of  the  pinery,  two  miles  below  the  mouth  of 
Piney,  on  the  river.    Coal  shales  develop  here. 

The  land  between  Illinois  Bayou  and  Piney  is  more  than 
usually  broken,  and  is  not  as  good  as  those  above  recounted. 
The  rock  abounds  in  huge  masses  and  is  fine  for  building  pur- 
poses. Springs  break  out  all  through  this  tract,  and  good, 
sweet,  lasting  water,  reached,  in  from  twenty  to  forty  feet. 


JOHNSON  COUNTY,  NORTH  THE  ARKANSAS. 
Between  the  waters  of  Piney,  Spadra,  and  Horsehead,  our 

I  observations  now  extend.  We  drove  into  Clarksville,  on  Spa- 
dra Creek,  the  county  seat,  July  the  13th. 

i  From  Big  and  Little  Piney  Bayous  to  Spadra  Creek,  and 
thence  to  the  Horsehead  creeks,  the  uplands  are  level  or  gently 

,  rolling,  interspersed  with  fine  farms,  with  ample  room  for  hun- 
dreds more.    The  land  is  similar  to  the  uplands  of  Pope,  and 

I  are  very  productive  in  cotton,  corn,  the  cereals,  grasses,  tobacco 
and  fruits.    In  short,  the  lands,^  water,  timber  (excepting  pine, 

i  which  is  less  plenteous),  wild  grapes,  vines  and  undergrowth,  are 
precisely  analogous  to  those  described  in  Pope.  The  lowlands 
are  very  fertile,  spreading,  in  numerous  places  in  this  tract, 
into  wide  bottoms. 

Along  the  road  from  Dover  to  Clarksville,  and  thence  to 
the  western  boundary  of  the  county,  we  noticed  deep  banks  of 
coal  shale,  and  that  iron  exists  more  or  less  in  the  sandstones. 
We  crossed  numerous  minor  streams  of  living  water  with  mill 
sites.  Spadra  and  Horsehead,  and  inter-running  streams,  will 
supply  mills  in  many  eligible  localities.  Pine  and  white  oak 
are  more  plentiful  in  the  eastern  portion  of  this  counry  ;  in  the 
western  part,  they  are  less  frequent,  or  absent,  and  the  predomi- 

I   nating  oaks  are  black  and  post,  with  other  woods  usual  in  this 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  15 

I 

valley.  No  better  range  anywhere,  and  suitable  for  great 
herds  of  cattle ;  sheep  will  also  thrive  upon  it  the  year  round. 

At  KiCHARD  Adams',  two  miles  from  Piney,  on  the  stage  I 
road,  S.  5,  T.  8,  R.  22,  the  uplands  are  broad  and  fertile,  and  I 
coal  shales  manifest  themselves  in  the  banks  of  rivulets  or  on 
worn  slopes  of  ridges. 

About  Clarksville,  S.  4,  T.  9,  R.  23,  in  the  Spadra  Valley, 
are  deep  beds  of  shale,  coal  crops,  and  ferruginous  rock. 
Fine  living  springs  break  out  in  this  valley,  in  and  near 
the  town  ;  this  last  is  a  thriving  and  populous  village,  with 
mills  and  plenty  of  unemployed  manufacturing  power — the 
Spadra  flowing  by. 

Spadra  Bluff,  resting  on  the  Arkansas  in  long  exposed 
strata,  is  four  miles  from  Clarksville,  S.  17,  T.  9,  R.  25  :  very 
fine  and  thick  bed  of  coal  in  this  vicinity.  The  coal  at  the 
mouth  of  Spadra  Creek  crops  out  from  the  river  and  runs  in- 
land a  short  distance ;  the  water  will  never  interfere.  The 
specimens  of  this  coal  which  we  secured  have  been  exposed  to 
the  action  of  heat,  air,  and  water  for  ages,  and  are  not  what 
the  coal  is  found  to  be,  deeper  down,  at  low  water,  where  it  is 
superior.  One  half  mile  inland,  this  has  been  demonstrated  by 
artisans  who  have  there  dug  and  used  the  coal.  The  general 
thickness  of  this  coal,  so  far  as  disclosed  and  measured,  is 
three  feet.  Owen  has  mentioned  it  as  one  of  the  finest  coals 
in  America.  Coal  crops  out  all  along  this  Spadra  Valley,  to 
and  above  Clarksville,  and  promises  a  greater  thickness  and 
unlimited  supply.  The  land  along  and  on  this  coal  bed  is  of 
the  finest,  both  of  bottom  and  upland,  and  yields  plenteously  to 
the  cultivator. 

On  Spadra  Creek,  three  miles  from  its  mouth,  in  a  ]ow  clifi' 
of  sandstone,  lead  has  been  found ;  it  was  used  from  this  cliff 
in  the  late  war  by  soldiers  for  bullets  ;  its  extent  is  as  yet  un- 
known.   Specimens  are  promised  by  those  who  thus  used  it. 

On  Cabin  Creek,  near  Pittsburg,  on  the  Arkansas,  occurs  a 
very  fine  building  sandstone,  in  huge  blocks,  smooth,  of  easy 
quarry  and  dressing,  which  hardens  in  the  air,  and  is  a  durable 


16  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

stone.    It  lies  within  one  mile  of  the  river  and  one  half  mile  j 
of  the  railroad  land  ;  the  supply  is  inexhaustible.    From  this  \ 
quarry  was  obtained  the  stone  used  in  the  new  Week's  Build- 
ing in  Little  Rock. 

On  Horsehead,  coal  crops  out  from  the  mouth  to  its  source, 
in  a  multitude  of  places ;  where  the  stage  road  from  Clarks- 
ville  to  Van  Buren,  crosses  it,  the  shale  is  fifty  feet  thick. 
The  rock  here  is  highly  ferruginous,  and  carbonate  of  iron  is 
exposed  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  The  seams  of  coal  vary  from 
ten  to  forty  iuches  thick,  and  the  coal  is  excellent,  in  vast 
quantity,  and  easy  of  access,  being  but  a  few  feet  below  the 
surface,  and  oftener  exposed  in  the  bluff  banks  of  the  stream. 
Many  of  the  coal-banks  have  been  tested ;  Hunt's  coal-bank 
is  pronounced  very  good  by  smiths,  as  also  Fleming's.  Hunt's 
bank  is  on  S.  15,  T.  10,  R.  24.  Shale  here  is  deep  in  the 
proximity  of  the  bank.  Fleming's  bank  lies  in  S.  31,  T.  11, 
R.  24.  The  land  on  the  stream  very  fine ;  the  uplands  good. 
Off  from  Horsehead  lie  Morris'  coal  banks,  on  S.  20,  T.  10,  R. 
25  ;  there  are  several  pits  sunk  here,  but  the  coal  has  not  been 
used  for  several  j^ears,  the  war  having  almost  closed  all  these 
coal  pits.  The  thickness  of  this  coal  is  at  present  unknown  ; 
the  shale  is  thin.  Open  glades  of  fine  uplands,  fine  grass,  with 
numerous  small  streams  penetrating,  exist  here.  Excellent 
grindstone  grit,  blue  color,  and  of  fine  grain,  we  found  near 
these  coal-pits  of  Morris. 

At  the  source  of  Horsehead,  amid  the  hills,  lead  has  been 
found ;  whether  it  is  abundant,  is  unknown  to  us.  A  small 
piece  of  gold  (drift)  was,  many  years  ago,  picked  out  of  a  sand- 
stone bluff  on  Horsehead.  On  the  upper  waters  of  Piney  and 
Indian  creek  and  Spadra,  in  the  hills,  lead  is  reported  as  abund- 
ant ;  it  has  been  procured  there  for  the  last  thirty  years.  The 
hills,  like  those  of  Pope  county,  are  covered  with  pine,  white, 
and  other  oaks.  Quartz  and  crystals  have  been  found  among 
them,  and  coal  on  their  very  tops. 

There  is  very  little  prairie  in  Johnson  county,  and  where 
they  exist,  they  resemble  those  of  Pope  county ;  but  on  them 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


17 


the  grass  is  good  and  the  stock  of  the  country  find  there  good 
summer  pasturage. 

Around  Joyner's  Gin,  S.  17,  T.  10,  R.  22;  J.  H.  Lassater 
S.  1,  T.  10,  R.  24,  and  J.  B.  Wilson  S.  28,  T.  10,  R.  24, 

are  fine  bottom  lands,  fertile  uplands  with  water,  and  woods 
usual  to  the  Valley.  Cotton,  corn,  cereals,  tobacco,  grasses 
and  fruits  yield  in  great  profusion,  according  to  cultivation. 
About  Thomas  Whitaker's,  S.  36,  T.  9,  R.  25,  are  very  fine  wide 
bottom  land,  and  timber.  We  have  selected  these  points  as 
guides  to  the  localities  of  the  country,  which  are,  as  above 
observed,  similar.  The  railroad  lands  partake  of  these  des- 
criptions, being  of  like  character ;  and  in  learning  the  charac-  | 
ter  of  these  designated  points  and  farms,  we  learn  what  the  j 
railroad  lands  are,  and  how  valuable  to  the  road,  and  how  in- 
ducing to  the  emigrant. 


FRANKLIN  COUNTY,  NORTH  ARKANSAS. 

On  our  course,  (being  along  the  stage  road  to  Van  Buren,) 
to  Ozark,  into  which  shire  town,  it  being  the  county  seat,  we 
entered  July  15th,  we  passed  over  some  very  rough  and  rocky 
country.    No  pine,  no  white  oak,  the  prevailing  oak  being  post  ' 
and  black ;  water  is  less  abundant  on  the  route  after  leaving 
horsehead  and  its  afluents.    Country  is  broken,  yet  there  are  j 
large  tracts  of  fair  upland  ;  the  lowlands  on  the  small  streams/ 
good,  but  the  bottoms  are  narrow.   Very  little  prairie  exists  in, 
this  county  on  the  north  of  the  Arkansas.     Shales  and  ferru-^' 
ginous  sandstones  abound ;  no  other  traces  of  coal  exhibited 
immediately  along  the  road,  but  coal  is  found  to  the  right  and 
left  thereof  in  many  localities.     The   river   lowlands  are 
equally  as  fertile  and  productive  as  those  of  Pope  and  Johnson, 
and  as  broad  ;  lowland  timber  dense. 

Ozark,  on  the  river,  situate  on  a  depressed  ridge  of  a  spur 
of  Boston  Mountains,  is  in  S.  36,  T.  10,  R.  27.  Iron  and  lead 
are  both  found  in  the  mountain  one  mile  southeast.  In  the 
creek  near  the  town,  great  masses  of  carbonate  of  iron  lie,  and 


18 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


also  around  the  hill  sides.  Three-fourths  of  a  mile  above 
Ozark  is  a  coal  bank  ;  the  coal  has  been  used  and  found  work- 
able. The  seam  is  eighteen  inches  thick.  Another  coal  bank, 
Barclay's,  lies  near  the  town — coal  pronounced  by  the  smiths, 
who  used  it,  to  be  good.  Its  thickness  is  also  eighteen  inches. 
Another  coal  bank  lies  four  miles  eastward  of  Ozark,  which  is 
equally  good,  and  about  the  same  thickness.  Strata  of  shale 
visible  in  a  great  number  of  places.  The  bluffs  near  are  of  the 
millstone  grit,  and  are  composed  of  ferruginous  sandstone. 

A  piece  of  silver  was  shown  us,  which  will  be  sent  you,  re- 
ported to  have  been  smelted  from  ore  found  in  Mulberry  Moun- 
tain, ten  miles  northeast  of  Ozark  ;  specimens  of  the  ore  have 
been  promised  us.  Undoubtedly  lead  exists  in  these  hills  in 
quantity,  as,  perhaps,  zinc  and  copper. 

Geo.  D.  Baker,  of  Washington  County,  somewhat  skilled 
in  metals,  showed  to  Mr.  Washburn,  some  two  or  three  years 
before  the  war,  what  he  believed  to  be  tin  ore,  which  he  found 
in  these  Mulberry  Hills.  A  close  exploration  will  determine 
the  existence  of  these  metals  there,  if  any  there  be.  In  these 
hills  is  the  only  pinery  in  Franklin  on  this  side  the  river,  save 
a  small  one  some  four  miles  above  Ozark,  which  is  ample  for 
local  wants.  Limestone  exists  in  quantity  in  these  hills,  and 
good  lime  has  been  burnt  nine  miles  northeast  of  Ozark.  No 
trace  of  fossils  have  we  observed  or  heard  of.  Quartz  and 
crystals  have  been  found  at  the  sources  of  the  streams  in  these 
hills,  in  pebbles,  and  beautiful  variegated  quartz  pebbles  found 
in  Mulberry  stream.  Some  flint  is  found,  but  little,  for  it  is 
exceedingly  scarce  in  the  counties  bordering  the  river. 

Blanchard's  coal  bank  is  on  S.  27,  T.  10,  R.  26.  It  is,  as  far 
as  is  known,  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  the  specimens  show  a 
good  working  coal.  Martin's  coal,  S.  19,  T.  9,  R.  26,  js  found 
in  a  well,  twenty  to  twenty-seven  inches  thick,  very  line  coal, 
and  used  by  smiths  recently — for  it  was  only  lately  opened — in 
preference  to  other  coal  in  the  region.  It  is  within  one-half 
mile  of  the  river.  Coal  develops  in  the  hills,  ten  miles  north- 
east of  Ozark,  in  the  limestone  croppings,  and  is  thin,  in  seams. 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


19 


Coal  has  been  dug  at  the  mouth  of  White  Oak,  on  railroad 
lands — the  coal  lies  under  water. 

A  saline  spring  of  strong  brine  is  found  S.  35,  T.  12,  R.  28.  ; 
This  brine  was  boiled  many  years  ago  and  yielded  a  fair  per 
cent,  of  salt ;  without  doubt,  good  strong  brine,  and  in  quantity, 
I  could  be  obtained  here  by  boring,  and  sufficient  to  attract  the 
salt  manufacturer.  At  Allison  Hills,  on  Mulberry  creek,  S.  22, 
T.  12,  R.  26,  foot  of  the  Mulberry  mountains,  is  found  white  jj 
"  sulphur  "  water,  thought  by  persons  who  have  drank  it  to 
be  superior  and  medicinal.  These  springs  were  too  far  from 
our  line  for  present  visiting,  but  they  have  been  famous  for 
years  in  this  region. 

Edmund  Jackson,  S.  23,  T.  10,  R.  26,  and  John  Honea,  S.  | 
4,  T.   9,  R.  26,  lie  within  a  tract  of  fertile  uplands,  with 
fine  timber  and  good  water.    Coal  shales  are  exposed  in  many 
points,  and  iron  displayed  more  or  less  in  the  sandstone,  j 
Meeks'  S.  4,  T.  8,  R.  26,  lies  on  the  Arkansas,  within  a  large, 
wide  tract  of  lowland,  that  is  equal  to  any  in  the  upper  valley 
in  fertility,  w^ater,  and  productiveness.    This  bottom  is  high 
and  dry,  with  usual  fine  forest,  vines  and  undergrowth.  BouR- 
LAND's  mill,  S.  10,  T.  10,  R.  27,  and  Asa  Williams,  S.  18,  T. 
10,  R.  27,  are  in  the  midst  of  rich  and  gently  rolling  uplands, 
especially  suitable  for  tobacco.    White  Oak,  Mulberry — both 
Big  and  Little — and  Gar  creek,  and  other  minor  streams,  will  , 
furnish  abundant  water  for  mills.    The  wheat  crops  of  this 
region  this  year  were  good — average  per  acre,  fifteen  bushels, 
with  careless  cultivation.  | 

Widow  Saddler,  S.  25,  T.  12,  R.  27,  on  Mulberry  creek, 
at  the  foot  of  the  Hills,  on  the  road  leading  from  Clarksville  | 
to  Fayetteville,  Washington  county,  and  Dreden  Wilkins,  S. 
15,  T.  11,  R.  28,  on  Hurricane  Creek,  which  falls  into  Mul- 
berry, both  live  in  a  region  where  the  bottom  lands  of  these  i 
streams  are  wide  and  rich,  and  the  hill  slopes  finely  fitted  for  | 
sheep-walks,  orchards,  tobacco,  and  grape;  timber  abundant  | 
and  good ;  water  sweet  and  plenty ;  health  good,  and  very  de-  I 


20  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


sirable  for  settlement.  Coal  shales  disclose  here,  but  the  coal 
is,  doubtless,  thin — limestone  abounding  in  the  Hills. 

On  Little  Mulberry,  at  Doctor  Williams,  S.  25,  T.  10,  R. 
29,  where  the  Little  Rock  and  Van  Buren  road  crosses  the 
stream,  are  very  fine  lands,  rich,  high,  wide  bottoms,  fair  up- 
lands, good  timber,  and  great  numbers  of  living  springs.  Ox- 
ydes  and  carbonate  of  iron  plentiful :  shale  beds  here  from  two 
to  ten  feet — a  coal  bank  lies  near  Williams'  of  fair  quality,  and 
is  twelve  inches  thick.  On  White  Oak  creek,  coal  crops  out  in 
many  places,  and  thick  shales — the  rock  is  also  ferruginous,  all 
along  this  stream. 

The  country  is  broken,  and,  in  parts,  rocky.  The  usual 
sandstone  of  the  millstone-grit,  with  frequent  shales  ;  and  con- 
glomerate scarce.  Limestone  much  more  plentiful  than  in  any 
other  river  county,  perhaps.  On  Indian  Creek,  a  small  tribu- 
tary of  Big  Mulberry,  is  found,  and  considerably  exposed,  a 
hard  conglomerate,  suitable  for  millstones.  Near  Dubard 
Bourland's,  and  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  county,  some 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  from  the  Arkansas  River,  a  very 
fine  iron  ore  exists — a  mountain  of  it — which,  from  accounts  of 
it,  is  equal  to  the  ores  of  Missouri.  It  is  probably  a  continua- 
tion of  the  iron  of  Lawrence  and  Newton  Counties,  where  it  is 
rich  and  abundant  enough  to  supply  the  world.  Specimens  of 
this  ore  will  be  sent  you. 


CRAWFORD  COUNTY. 

On  the  17th  of  July  we  reached  Van  Buren  from  our  camp 
on  Little  Mulberry. 

The  prevailing  rock  is  the  same  ;  the  timber  on  the  uplands 
is  red,  post,  and  black  oak,  interspersed  with  hickory.  No 
pine  along  our  route.  Very  little  pine  is  found  in  this  county; 
but  in  the  adjoining  Cherokee  country,  commencing  nine  miles 
north  of  westward  from  Van  Buren,  is  one  of  the  greatest  pine- 
ries north  of  the  Arkansas.  It  will  hereafter  be  very  valuable 
to  your  Road.    The  uplands  in  the  eastern  section  of  this 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  21 


county,  generally,  are  level  and  fertile,  rich  in  grasses,  vines, 
grape  and  undergrowth.  Springs  are  common  in  parts,  and 
water  obtained  with  readiness  by  digging.  These  lands  are 
underlaid  by  ferruginous  shales  and  clays,  and  where  unpro- 
ductive, can  be  made  so  by  material  existing  there  or  in  the 
hills.  One  of  the  finest  tracts  of  bottom  land  begins  in  the 
city  of  Van  Buren,  and  runs  down  the  river  past  the  mouth  of 
Flat  Rock,  past  the  mouth  of  Frog  Bayou,  to  the  mouth  of 
Mulberry.  The  greater  part  is  high,  dry,  richly  timbered,  with 
luxuriant  growth  of  vine,  shrub,  and  grass ;  well  watered,  and 
as  productive  as  any  land  on  the  Arkansas. 


Shales  are  everywhere  exposed,  even  in  the  city  in  several' 
places.  Coal  or  coal  indices  are  found  all  over  the  county, 
but  the  coal  is,  as  a  rule,  not  as  thick  as  it  is  in  Franklin.  On 
Frog  Bayou,  a  considerable  tributary  of  the  Arkansas,  at  Phil- 
lips' bank,  S.  18,  T.  9,  R.  30,  coal  has  been  dug  for  thirty- 
five  years ;  said  by  smiths  who  have  worked  it  to  be  the  best 
coal  in  the  region ;  it  is  three  feet  thick  and  easy  to  quarry  j 
it  extends  quite  a  distance  along  this  Bayou,  and  is  a  part  of 
the  Arkansas  coal-field.  This  stream  has  long  been  famed 
for  its  fine,  wide,  high  and  rich  lands.  A  few  small  prairies  I 
skirt  it,  with  excellent  grasses  and  herbs.  ; 

On  Flat  Rock,  a  small  stream  eastward  from  Yan  Buren  two 
miles,  shale  is  everywhere  exposed  and  coal  has  been  found. 
The  uplands  along  this  stream  are  fine  for  fruits,  grape  and 
berries.  This  shale  runs  into  Yan  Buren;  and  in  the  well 
sunk  for  the  steam  mill  in  Yan  Buren,  coal  was  struck,  as  also 
a  very  hard,  blue,  almost  impenetrable,  rock.  Along  tliis  stream 
small  fragments  of  crystal— as  also,  on  a  low  ridge  on  the  land 
of  E.  ScoTT,  S.  9,  T.  9,  R.  31,  and  along  the  hill  side,  near  the 
Yan  Buren  steam  mill — are  gathered.  Limestone  occurs  at  the 
base  of  the  bluff  of  ferruginous  sandstone,  above  Yan  Buren ; 
this  bluff  of  sandstone  abuts  on  the  river,  and  yields  a  fine 
building  stone  ;  and  on  its  height,  which  is  a  broad  table  land, 
are  some  finest  building  sites  to  be  found  in  this  picturesque 
valley— it  is  tempting  to  the  wealthy  immigrant.    This  bluff 


22  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

fronts  also  on  Lee's  Creek,  at  its  confluence  with  the  Arkansas, 
and  runs  along  that  stream  into  the  adjoining  hills  ;  the  mouth 
of  this  stream  is  in  S.  18,  T.  9,  R.  30 ;  opposite  the  bluff,  across 
the  creek,  is  a  high  hill  in  which  lead  was  found  many  years 
ago — it  was  probably  drift.  Fine  springs  gush  out  along  the 
valley  of  this  stream  and  its  many  affluents;  iron  oxydes.  and 
carbonate  are  common  everywhere,  and  the  carbonate  is  often 
exceedingly  heavy ;  indeed  the  absence  of  iron  is  the  exception 
in  this  valley.  The  water  in  this  region  is  very  good ;  the 
springs  about  and  near  Van  Buren  are  accounted  the  best  in 
the  country.  The  water  is  cold  and  sweet.  These  streams  will 
all  supply  mills :  and  the  county  grows  excellent  wheat.  The 
corn,  cotton,  cereals,  grasses,  especially  blue — which  takes  hold 
of  the  soil  and  spreads  rapidly  and  close  (as  it  does,  indeed  in 
other  parts  of  the  valley) — clover  and  fruits  are  all  grown  here 
in  great  perfection  and  quantity  to  the  acre,  the  estimates  of 
yield,  above  made,  answering  for  the  lands  of  this  county. 
Fruits,  especially,  have  been  so  thoroughly  tested  and  culti- 
vated by  Dr.  R.  Thurston,  near  Van  Buren,  that  it  is  now 
demonstrated  that  the  Arkansas  will  produce  fruit  equal  to 
any  other  valley  in  the  world. 

The  Valley  of  Lee's  Creek  contains  excellent  land,  both  bot- 
tom and  high  land ;  these  last  are,  for  the  most  part,  broken, 
rough  and  rocky.  The  Valley  of  Lee's  Creek,  with  its  tribu- 
taries, is  probably  wider  than  that  of  any  other  tributary  run- 
ning into  the  Arkansas,  on  the  north,  within  the  State,  but 
great  hills  and  high  bluffs  of  the  millstone-grit  sandstones 
everywhere  intersect  it ;  and  yet  there  are  great  bodies  of  fer- 
tile bottom  and  upland,  and  thousands  of  homes  awaiting  the 
immigrant  and  the  advent  of  your  road.  As  elsewhere  and  re- 
peatedly remarked,  the  Railroad  lands  pierce  this  valley  from 
Little  Rock  to  Fort  Smith,  and  a  general  and  swift  description 
\  of  the  country  is  a  general  and  swift  description  of  them. 

At  Dripping  Springs  and  vicinage,  S.  22,  T.  10,  R.  32,  the 
(  ;,  shale  is  very  thick,  and  has  an  oily  and  glistening  touch  and 
look.    Limestone  is  found  here  in  masses  protruding  from  the 


I 


23 


earth ;  a  wide  tract  of  fertile  land  surrounds  it.     It  is  nine 
miles  northward  from  Van  Buren. 

At  Mrs.  Fort's,  S.  17,  T.  1,  R.  32,  on  Lee's  Creek,  coal  is 
visible  in  its  bed  ;  the  thickness  of  this  coal  is  untested,  and  so 
is  its  quality.  Ponderous  blocks,  water- worn,  of  carbonate 
iron  are  abundant ;  there  is  some  pine  here  on  the  hills,  which 
are  lofty.  '  u 

At  Natural  Dam,  S.  9,  T.  17,  R.  32,  which  is  on  and  crosses  \ 
the  Mountain  Fork  of  Lee's  Creek,  the  cliff  or  "  dam"  is  about 
thirteen  feet  high,  of  a  dark,  water-resisting,  ferruginous  sand- 
stone, and  is  an  effectual  and  eternal  barrier  to  the  volume  of 
the  stream.  It  is  a  most  eligible  natural  mill-site,  and  an  old 
mill  has  been  here  run  for  many  years.  Rich  and  wide  bot- 
tom lands  lie  around  it  and  its  neighborhood  ;  springs  are  fre- 
quent and  the  timber  fine ;  coal  shales  are  disclosed  in  many 
places ;  it  is  distant  from  Van  Buren  eighteen  miles  northward.  .  J/' 

On  Lee's  Creek,  still  northward  from  Van  Buren,  is  a  fine 
coal  bed,  of  the  thickness  of  twenty-eight  to  thirty-two  inches. 
Coal  has  been  tried  by  smiths,  and  by  them  termed  fine.  It  is 
easily  quarried  and  in  quantity.  It  is  known  as  the  Wooten 
bank.  This  coal,  like  all  the  coal  in  this  field,  improves  in 
quality  and  thickness  as  it  is  penetrated. 

Near  Robert  Sutherland's,  on  Lee's  Creek,  S.  12,  T.  11, 
R.  32,  is  a  coal  bed  which  has  been  worked ;  its  thickness  we 
do  not  know.  The  bottom  and  uplands  here  are  fertile. 
Grapes  abound  on  the  high  hillsides,  as  they  do  elsewhere  in 
Crawford.  The  water  is  abundant  and  good ;  shales  occur 
from  this  to  Joseph  Bryant's,  on  Lee's  Creek,  at  the  foot  of 
Boston  Mountains,  S.  20,  T.  12,  R.  31,  with  occasional  out- 
crop of  limestone.  Great  bluffs  of  sandstone  rise  up  and  are 
full  of  iron,  and  yield  a  good  building  rock.  The  timber  is 
excellent,  white  oak  being  among  the  prevalent  oaks,  and  pine 
being  absent.  A  short  distance  from  Bryant's,  from  the  Bos- 
ton Mountain,  runs  the  Blackburn's  Fork  of  Lee's  Creek,  rich 
in  coal  banks.  This  is  a  good,  workable  coal,  exposed  for 
thirty  inches ;  has  been  used  by  smiths  for  years,  and  into  which 


24 


LITTLE  ROCK  AMD  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


have  been  sunk  fourteen  pits.  This  coal,  like  the  great  body 
of  the  coal  so  far  used  in  this  valley,  is  semi-bituminous.  Coal 
has  also  for  years  been  quarried  and  transported  from  pits  on 
Cove  Creek,  a  tributary  of  Lee's  Creek,  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  Crawford ;  it  has  been  hauled  by  smiths  forty  miles. 
This  coal  is  very  good,  its  thickness  is  about  twenty-seven 
inches.  In  the  hills  of  this  upper  Lee's  Creek  region  have 
been  found,  in  the  sandstone,  the  only  fossils  known  to  the 
region,  with  the  exception  of  fossils  found  on  a  limestone  in  the 
Cherokee  country,  on  Webber's  Creek,  the  extreme  western  af- 
fluent of  Lee's  Creek.  Boston  Mountain  is  famous  for  its  very 
rich  benches,  hill  slopes  and  table  land,  the  soil  being  enriched 
by  the  limestone  and  the  ferruginous  earths  therein  ;  it  is  cov- 
ered with  bottom  growth  of  timber,  such  as  ash,  walnut,  paw- 
paw, oak,  rich  undergrowth,  vines  and  shrubs.  It  is  pecu- 
liarly adapted  for  g^age?  tobacco,  and  pastures,  the  numerous 
springs  affording  plenty  of  water.  In  early  times  cane  (reeds) 
grew  on  their  tops ;  it  produces  extraordinarily  of  all  the 
grains,  corn  and  grasses.    Pine  is  absent. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Shannon's  mill,  S.  19,  T.  10,  R.  30, 
on  Cedar  Creek,  which  empties  into  Frog  Bayou,  quartz  frag- 
ments have  been  discovered,  and  lead  also.  The  water  is  suf- 
cient  for  the  supply  of  mills,  and  the  lowlands  rich.  Coal 
shales  also  display  in  this  tract  of  the  county. 

There  is  a  saline  spring  in  S.  32,  T.  11,  R.  32,  from  which 
the  brine,  many  years  ago,  was  worked,  and  the  yield  of  salt 
good.  Boring,  without  doubt,  would  bring  stronger  brine,  and 
make  its  boiling  profitable  to  the  salt  manufacturer,  even  in 
this  close  proximity  to  the  exhaustless  saline  waters,  springs, 
and  deposits  of  the  east  Cherokee  country.  In  sections  32  and 
34  are  "  Heard's  and  Pennywit's  sulphur  springs,"  from 
which  run  health-giving  waters,  and  which  are  famous  in  their 
locality.  The  precipitates  are  white,  and  were  they  improved 
by  digging,  cleansing  them  out,  and  walled,  they  would  proba- 
bly equal  springs  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  and  become  a 


LITTLE  ROOK  AAD  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


25 


resort  for  springs'  visitors.  There  are  other  "  sulphur  "  and 
chalybeate  springs  in  this  county. 

On  Frog  Bayou,  near  Frazer's  Gin,  the  land  is  fine — as 
Frog  Bayou  land  always  is — and  the  advantages  for  a  mill  are 
uncommonly  good  for  the  region.  This  gin  is  on  S.  19,  T.  10, 
R.  30. 

We  give  here  three  points  to  guide  on  the  maps,  to  be  refer- 
red to,  in  connection  with  this  report.  These  three  points,  as 
to  Crawford  County,  are  in  the  bottom  lands  of  the  river, 
below  Van  Buren,  which  is  near  the  termination  of  the  rail- 
road and  contiguous  to  the  grading  already  made  for  the  road, 
and  are  C.  G.  Scott,  S.  6,  31,  T.  8,  9,  R.  31;  N.  B. 
Burrow,  S.  31,  T.  8,  R.  30,  and  Geo.  Austin,  S.  2,  T.  9,  R. 
31.  In  this  tract  are  som.e  of  the  finest  plantations  in  the  Up- 
per Valley.  The  land  is  exceedingly  fertile,  the  timber  most 
excellent,  the  range  unequalled,  and  the  water  wholesome — 
generally  obtained  for  house  use  by  digging,  or  in  cisterns,  and 
abundance  of  stock-water  everywhere.  There  is  no  better 
tract  inviting  the  immigrant,  none  better  for  the  occupation 
to  be  made  by  the  laborers  on  your  Road. 


SEBASTIAN  COUNTY. 

July  18th  we  halted  in  Fort  Smith.  This  County  is  in  the 
heart  of  the  coal-field  of  Arkansas,  and  we  shall  therefore  de- 
vote space  in  our  report  to  these  coals,  for  they  are  of  the 
greatest  value,  not  only  to  the  County,  but  to  the  entire  State, 
and  particularly  to  the  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Rail- 
road. 

In  the  Race-track  Prairie,  between  the  cities  of  Van  Buren 
and  Fort  Smith,  along  which  the  road  runs,  and  in  the  opposite 
edge  of  which  Elias  Rector  lives,  on  S.  11,  T.  8,  R.  32,  the 
coal  crops  out  in  every  rivulet,  wash  from  slopes,  and  old  time- 
worn  roads.  This  coal  is,  so  far  as  developed,  thin  ;  whether 
the  seams  underneath  may  be  thicker,  remains  for  future  in- 
vestigation to  determine.   These  thin  seams  disclose,  even  into 


26 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


the  city,  and  from  it  in  every  direction,  either  coal  itself  or 
its  overlying  shales.    From  Fort  Smith  out  to  the  "  May  i 
Place,"   four   miles   south  of  east  from  Fort  Smith,  and  |l 
which  is  on   the   verge  of  Mozzard  Prairie,  we    noticed  || 
coal  shales  along  the  road  ;  and  they  are  displayed  every-  !| 
where  in  this  tract.     Mazzard  Prairie  is  entirely  under-  i 
laid  by  coal,  which  may  be  reached  at  almost  every  point  } 
by  digging ;  the  same   may  be   said  of  the  flanking  up-  j 
lands  on  either  hand,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the  cutting  stream-  I 
lets  which  meander  both  through  woodland  and  prairie.    At  a  ji 
well  in  the  midst  of  this  prairie,  on  a  tributary  streamlet  of  j| 
Mazzard  Creek,  where  we  camped,  the  shale  exposed  in  the  well  I  i 
rested  immediately  on  coal.    At  John  Carnall's,  one  mile  | 
thence,  S.  1,  T.  7,  R.  32,  whose  land  bordeis  the  Railroad  I 
lands,  near  the  Knob  of  Mazzard  Prairie,  the  same  bed  of  coal 
lies  underneath  and  has  been  reached.    In  and  around  Jenny  i 
Lind,  a  very  small  hamlet  of  Sebastian,  are  numerous  coal  | 
banks,  and  which  have  been  worked  for  years ;  Green's,  Long's, 
1    Sutton's,  Little's,  and  Jenny  Lind.    These  banks  are  contigu- 
I    ous,  and  lie  on  S.  32,  T.  7,  R.  31  ;  several  pits  have  been  sunk, 
'    all  joining  the  same  section,  and  all  similar  in  appearance,  |j 
I    quality  and  quantity  of  coal.    This  coal,  so  far  as  it  has  been  i  | 

I  disclosed,  which  is  but  a  few  inches,  comparatively,  is  semi-  I 

I I  bituminous,  burns  well,  and  leaves  a  light  brown,  red,  or  white-  \ 
I  gray  ash.  In  the  first  pit,  and  part  of  the  section,  the  coal  is  | 
i  six  feet  thick,  in  the  second  pit,  same  quarter,  it  is  five,  both  |i 
I  with  a  seam  of  three  inches  very  superior  coal  just  underneath. 
I  The  other  pits  are  of  the  same  character  and  nearly  of  the 
I  same  thickness;  all  the  coal  here,  and,  indeed,  through  the 
I  whole  field,  lies  in  two  divisions,  separated  by  a  thin  parting 
!    of  clay,  which  is  of  great  advantage  to  the  miner.    These  Jenny 

Lind  coal  beds  lie  some  six  feet  below  the  surface,  which, 
with  a  few  inches  of  soil,  is  composed  of  ferruginous  clay,  filled 
with  sea-worn  pebbles,  and  dip  slightly  to  the  west  of  north, 
as  the  whole  field  does,  to  a  great  degree.  They  are  easily 
I  quarried ;  and  good  roads  to  the  river,  which  is  distant  six  miles ; 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


27 


the  drainage  is  good,  no  water  interfering.   The  coal  is  pro-  i 
nounced  by  smiths,  artisans,  and  engineers  to  be  fine  and  suitable  | 
for  workshops,  machines,  engines,  boat  and  power  fuel.  Great 
quantities  have  already  been  taken  out,  but  only  from  and 
near  the  surface  ;  the  deeper  the  miner  goes,  the  richer  and 
thicker  the  coal.    This  is  the  case  with  all  the  coal  pits  in  the 
whole  coal-field.    From  Carnall's  coal — Knox  mine — thou- 
sands of  bushels  have  been  taken  for  use  of  smiths,  artisans, 
boats,  fuel  and  exportation,  some  of  which  found  its  way  to 
ll  New  Orleans,  and  was  adjudged  there  to  be  excellent  coal. 
!  I  This  coal  is  preferred  by  many  smiths  to  any  otlier,  and  by  all  j 
is  extolled.    The  Bostick  mine  lies  in  S.  13,  T.  7,  R.  31,  and  '} 
\   is  pronounced  to  be  a  very  superior  coal  by  all  who  have  seen 
' ;  or  used  it.    It  is  a  hard,  compact,  firm  coal,  often  with  varie- 
!  gated  hues,  called  "  peacock  coal,"  and  is  excellent  for  all  the 
uses  of  manufacture  and  commerce.    By  many  artisans  it  is 
said  to  be  the  best  coal  in  the  County.    It  lies  within  five 
miles  of  the  river,  on  the  border  of  very  rich  bottom  lands  of 
the  Vachegras,  a  tributary  of  the  Arkansas — the  Railroad 
lands  also  border,  and  small  prairies  skirt  the  field.  This 
Bostick  mine  has  been  pierced  by  two  or  three  shafts  and  tun- 
j   nels,  some  thirty  feet  being  the  deepest ;  the  coal  was  found 
better  and  thicker  and  harder.    There  is  no  difficulty  in  tun- 
neling or  in  sinking  shafts,  for  the  drainage  is  natural  and  the 
roofing  easily  held ;  between  the  two  tunnels  and  alongside  the 
i  bank  runs  a  small  rivulet,  which  carries  off  all  surplus  water, 
!  The  average  thickness  is  four  feet,  parted  with  clay  seam.  The 
I  coal  is  very  quickly  quarried — one  lump  was  taken  out  of  this 
!  mine  which  weighed  three  hundred  pounds  ;  this  coal  sells 
readily,  delivered  in  Fort  Smith,  for  forty  cents  per  bushel. 
On  the  west  side,  a  ridge  thirty  feet  in  height,  the  coal  seam  is  ex- 
posed four  feet,  the  shale  is  loose,  from  four  to  seven  feet  thick, 
with  superimposed  clay  and  sea-worn  pebbles  of  sandstone,  and 
large  masses  of  sandstone  a-top.  Very  fine  grindstone  grit  we 
found  lying  around  the  mine,  and  we  found  also  hyd rated  kidney 
I   iron  ore  and  carbonate  of  iron  very  heavy.  Oxyde  of  iron  discol- 




28  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


ors  the  shale  ;  we  found,  in  the  shale  of  this  mine,  impressions 
of  calamite.  Ferns  have  here  been  opened  by  others,  but  we 
failed  to  obtain  any — no  other  fossils  are  found  in  this  mine. 
But  near,  in  S.  12,  T.  7,  R.  31,  we  got  a  specimen  of  sigillaria, 
six  or  more  feet  long,  well  defined,  while  lying  by  was  a  sec- 
tion of  this  fossil,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  and  about  twen- 
ty-six inches  long.  Impressions  of  fossils  are  found  in  the 
sandstone  at  the  mouth  of  Poteau,  which  flows  into  the  Arkan- 
sas at  Fort  Smith,  and  in  other  localities,  all  carboniferous  and 
index  of  coal.  This  Bostick  mine  is  six  miles  east  from  Jenny 
Lind ;  coal  betrays  itself  all  along  the  Vachegras  to  the  Hills. 
Good  roads  can  be  made  to  the  river  anywhere  from  these 
opened  or  unopened  coal  banks. 

James  Crockett,  S.  7,  T.  7,  R.  31,  and  Joseph  Howard, 
S.  21,  T.  7,  R.  31,  live  on  this  coal  field.  Shales  cropping 
out  at  their  doors,  and  fossils  found  around  them  of  sigillaria 
and  lepidodendron  ;  this  land  and  the  land  around  them,  and 
the  BosTiCK  mine,  are  very  productive.  We  saw  at  Crockett's 
the  finest  tobacco  growing  we  saw  on  the  whole  route.  Corn 
everywhere  was  magnificent.  Wheat  and  other  grains  grow 
well,  and  the  grasses  also ;  the  wild  grasses  are  very  luxuriant ; 
the  prairie  and  the  wild  grape  matted  the  undergrowth,  which 
is  rich  and  dense,  and  springs  gushed  out  along  the  hillsides 
and  banks  of  Vachegras.  The  lands  are  rich  even  up  to  the 
very  pits  of  the  Bostick  mine.  The  same  may  be  said  ot^nearly 
all  these  coal  lands,  while  the  timber  is  good — the  pine  and 
white  oak  being  absent ;  hickory  and  walnut  are  large. 

On  Big  Creek,  near  Andersox  Brook,  S.  18,  T.  7,  R.  29, 
there  are  two  or  three  coal  banks,  which  have  been  worked,  and 
the  coal  discloses  along  the  bank  of  the  stream  for  miles ;  the 
seam  is  about  four  feet  thick,  and  very  easy  to  reach.  The  land 
along  this  creek  is  similar  to  that  of  Vachegras,  and  prairies 
skirt  it.  The  pits  are  about  six  miles  from  the  Arkansas  River, 
and  the  road  thither  can  be  made  excellent ;  indeed,  the  timber 
is  so  abundant  that  plank  joads  may^be  made,  or  wood-track 
horse-railroads  can  be,  from  every  pit  in  the  region  to  the 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  29 

Arkansas,  or  to  the  Fort  Smith  and  Little  Rock  Railroad,  with 
very  little  expense. 

At  the  Iron  Bridge,  which  spanned  the  Poteau  some  ycnrs 
since — built  by  the  United  States  on  the  "  35th  Parallel  Road," 
(Whipple's  Pacific  Survey) — the  shale  is  very  deep,  and  coal 
lies  underneath.  A.  very  excellent  coal  crops  out  in  the  banks 
and  bed  of  this  stream  in  very  many  places,  and  in  the  Choc- 
taw country — bordering — is  supereminently  good.  CaRxall's 
coal,  on  S.  23,  T.  5,  R.  31,  on  Hodge's  Prairie,  is  known  to  be 
some  four  feet  thick,  and  said  to  be  much  thicker.  This  coal  j 
is  unusaally  good ;  and  it  is  a  good  road  to  the  river.  On 
James'  Fork  of  Poteau,  near,  and  above,  and  below  Moore's 
Mill,  S.  19,  T.  5,  R.  31,  the  coal  is  from  four  to  five  feet  thick, 
and  is  of  fine  quality.  Mr.  F.  N.  Moore  dug  coal  there  seve- 
ral years  ago.  It  crops  out  along  the  banks  of  the  stream  for 
miles  ;  is  easily  quarried ;  yields  great  quantity  to  the  hand 
per  day ;  lies  near  the  surface,  under  a  thin  layer  of  soil,  shale 
and  sea- worn  pebbles ;  and  the  coal  increases  in  quantity  and 
value  as  it  is  opened.  It  dips  slightly  west  of  north.  Very 
fine,  beautiful,  and  well-preserved  ferns  are  here  disclosed 
from  the  shale,  in  multitudes.  A  seam  of  coal — 'tis  said — bluffs 
out  in  Poteau  Mountain,  some  fifty  or  more  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  plain.  It  is  said  to  be  very  thick.  This  coal  has  never 
been  used,  and  is  the  only  instance  where  a  thick  seam  is  known 
to  crop  out  at  such  an  altitude.  Undoubtedly  it  does  exist  in  j 
these  hills,  for  on  the  tops  of  some  of  them  coal  has  been  dis-  ;  j 
covered  ;  'and  it  is  evident  that  coal  penetrates  all  the  hills  of 
Sebastian,  as  well  as  some  other  counties,  to  a  considerable 
width.  j I 

Around  Greenwood,  the  county  seat,  shales  are  abundant  '  j 
and  thick,  and  coal  evidences  common.    Coal  develops  along  '■  \ 
Big  Creek  as  far  down  as  its  mouth,  near  J.  B.  Luce's,  S.  2] ,  . 
T.  8,  R.  30  ;  the  shales  in  the  vicinage  are  thick  and  abound-  ' 
ing,  and  small  pieces  of  coal,  drifted,  have  been  seen  scattered  i 
over  the  prairies,  jutting  in  to  the  lowlands  near. 

Through  all  this  great  coal  region,  the  Railroad  lands  lie  ; 


30  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  | 

i  further  openings  will  bring  to  light  larger  and  deeper  banks  of  | 
'  coal,  and  of  qualities,  we  believe,  equal  to  any  coal  in  America. 
We  have  procured  specimens  of  these  coals,  which,  we  trust, 
you  will  safely  receive  in  time.  i  j 

'      The  prevailing  rock,  in  this  county,  is  the  millstone  grit,  h 
with  shales,  and  not  infrequent  conglomerate  ;  excellent  build-  1 1 
ing  stone  and  grindstone  grit  abound,  iron  oxydes  and  car-  |i 
bonate ;  and  some  of  them  would  yield  a  paying  per  cent,  to  the  I ! 
smelter.    Iron  is  not  so  rich  as  in  other  counties,  but,  as  almost  j  i 
'  everywhere  in  Arkansas,  it  is  seen  in  almost  all  the  rock.  Lead  | ; 
has  been  seen  on  Washburn's  Creek,  a  small  stream  running  into  j 
the  Poteau  in  the  western  part  of  the  county.    In  the  neigh-  j 
boring  county,  Scott,  T.  3,  R.  30,  about  thirty-five  miles  south  | 
of  Fort  Smith,  near  the  fork  of  the  main  Poteau,  belonging  to 
.  John  King,  lead  is  found — a  specimen  sent  you.    Other  speci- 
mens, from  the  same  region,  we  unfortunately  lost.  , 
Gypsum  has  been  found  on  Mazzard  and  Race-track  Prairies.  ; 
,  On  S.  36,  T.  8,  R.  31,  near  Fort  Smith,  it  is  thought  to  exist  i 
'  in  quantity — so  much  so,  that  lands  have  been  entered  in  conse-  I 

quence.    It  is  also  supposed  to  exist  on  Railroad  lands.  If 
j  found  in  abundance,  it  will  be  very  valuable  to  this  valley  as  : 
I  a  fertilizer.  | 
I      Small  fragments  of  quartz  and  small  crystals  have  been  ga- 
j  thered  on  Mazzard  Prairie  and  other  parts  of  the  county, 
i      In  this  county,  so  far  as  is  yet  known,  there  are  no  saline 
!  springs,  but  numerous  "  sulphur"  springs — considered  healthful 
I  — are  found,  to  some  of  which  the  people  of  the  region  have  re- 
I  sorted  for  years ;  one  of  them.  Barling's,  is  on  S.  35,  T.  8,  R. 
35,  seven  miles  from  Fort  Smith. 

The  land  in  this  county,  on  the  river,  is  equal  to  any  in  wide 
fertile  tracts ;  the  river  only  touches  it  on  the  north ;  the  low- 
i  lands  of  the  streams  are  similar  to  those  of  others  above  des- 
I  cribed.    There  are  great  tracts  of  level  and  gently  broken 
upland,  a  large  part  of  which  are  rich  and  productive;  and  the 
I    poor  soil  can  easily  be  enriched  from  material  existing  in  the 
region.    The  produce  of  this  land  is  analogous  to  that  of  the 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  31 


counties  already  reported.  The  undergrowth  is  dense ;  grape 
vines  everywhere  twist  their  tendrils  arouna  the  limbs  of  trees, 
or  run  along  the  hill  slopes,  and  the  range  is  as  luxuriant  as 
anywhere  in  the  valley  below  ;  and  the  diameter  of  some  of 
these  lowland  grape-vines  in  this  valley  would  astonish  a 

1  stranger  to  the  clime,  some  of  them  being  twenty  inches  in  di- 

I  ameter. 

j  Numerous  streams  wind  through  this  county,  affording  great 
supply  for  mills ;  springs  also  water  the  uplands ;  water  is  found 
at  fourteen  to  forty  feet,  and  is  wholesome  and  unfailing. 

The  timber  of  this  county  is  alike  to  that  of  others  recounted, 
excepting  that  in  the  eastern  part ;  pine  and  white  oak  are 
absent.    In  tlie  southwest  part  of  this  county,  about  the  Sugar 
Loaf,  Cortez,  and  neighboring  hills,  a  pinery  commences,  which 
extends  south  and  southwest  to  the  Red  River,  and  the  trees 
1  in  magnitude  are  excelled  by  no  country  east  of  California  and 
\  Oregon.    In  this  section  of  the  country  are  many  mills  :  John 
j  Smith's,  near  and  at  the  foot  of  Cortez  Hill ;  Smedley's,  a 
I  mile  distant ;  a  mill  at  Sugar  Loaf,  and  three  old  mills  in  the 
I  region.   They  all  lie  on  the  thirty-fifth  parallel. 


FRANKLIN  COUNTY. 
(South  of  River.) 

Through  Charleston,  Franklin  County,  July  22d,  we 
drove  in  the  evening,  camping  six  miles  beyond,  at  Mr.  Cotton's, 
and  passing  through  Grand  Prairie.  In  this  part  of  Franklin  | 
is  a  great  deal  of  prairie ,  generally  fertile,  and  in  and  on  the  j 
boundary  of  which  are  many  fine  farms ;  the  whole  region  is 
underlaid  by,  and  betrays,  coal.  This  village  of  Charleston  is 
in  S.  11,  T.  7,  R.  29  ;  coal  shales  lie  all  around,  and  the  sand- 
stone is,  in  instances,  fossiliferous.  | 

Dr.  W.  L.  Killiam  has  a  coal  bed  on  S.  12,  T.  7,  R.  29  ; 
and  coal  crops  out  repeatedly  in  the  vicinity.  Grand  Prairie, 
which  lies  between  Charleston  and  the  Arkansas,  is  an  exten-  | 


32  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


sive  prairie  of  good  land  and  water,  and  bordered  with  fine 
timber  ;  it  has  many  most  picturesque  scenes;  it  is  underlaid  by- 
coal  ;  several  pits  have  been  sunk  in  it,  and  the  coal  has  been 
used  for  years.  We  are  unable  to  get  the  number  of  those 
pits,  but  can  approximate.  The  coal  is  praised  by  smiths,  is 
from  18  to  30  inches  thick,  and,  as  usual,  grows  thicker  as  it  is 
deeper.  The  drainage  is  good,  as  the  coal  generally  crops  out 
along  small  streams — coal  but  a  short  distance  below  the  sur- 
face— dips  north  slightly. 

Reeve's  coal  bank,  said  to  be  the  best  and  longest  used,  is 
two  miles  due  west  from  Charleston.    Aldrich's,  Carroll's, 
and  Arbuckle's  coal  banks  are  four  miles  northeast  from 
Charleston.    Along  a  branch  in  Grand  Prairie,  the  coal  crops 
out  its  entire  length  ;  coal  three  miles  southeast  from  Aldrich's 
bank,  four  miles  east  of  Cotton's,  who  lives  in  Sec.  2,  T.  7,  R. 
*  28.    This  coal  continues  to  Carpenter's  bank,  within  ten  miles 
of  Roseville,  Arkansas  River  ;  these  coals  in  Grand  Prairie  and 
j   in  the  neighborhood  of  Charleston  are  about  eight  to  twelve 
I   miles  from  the  Arkansas  River.    Carpenter's  bank,  west  from 
Roseville,  is  about  one  mile  northeast  from  Cotton's,  and  is 
about  three  feet  thick  ;  has  been  used  by  smiths,  and  with  them 
is  a  favorite  coal.    Another  coal  bank  is  within  one  mile  west 
of  north  from  Cotton's.    Coal  good,  about  two  and  a  half 
!  feet  thick,  crops  out  along  a  creek ;  easily  obtained,  as  are 
all  these  coals.    Heavy  iron-bearing  rocks,  southeast  one  mile 
of  Cotton's.  The  railroad  lands  run  through  this  coal-field.  As 
in  Sebastian,  the  lands  are  generally  rich  uplands-  growth 
and  produce  similar  to  country  described  above  in  Sebastian. 

On  Six-mile  Creek,  two  and  a  half  miles  near  southeast 
from  Cotton's,  at  Ephraim  Brawley's,  is  a  coal  bank  much 
worked,  and  above,  on  same  creek,  on  sixteenth  section,  is  Mar- 
tin's coal  bank,  also  used.  The  coal  crops  out  all  along  the 
creek  bank ;  the  seam  is  about  four  feet  thick,  and  the  coal  is 
easy  to  reach ;  lumps  weighing  200  and  250  pounds  have 
repeatedly  been  taken  out ;  it  is  a  great  favorite  with  smiths, 
and  is  hauled  into  Fort  Smith,  distant  from  the  river  about 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  33 

twelve  miles,  and  a  good  road.    As  elsewhere,  the  coal  grows 
better  and  thicker  the  deeper  it  is  penetrated  ;  a  small  speci- 
men of  this  coal  we  found  drifted  before  we  learned  of  the 
existence  of  the  pit ;  this  drift  coal  had,  for  ages,  been  exposed 
to  the  air  and  water,  but  we  found  it  to  be  a  hard,  compact, 
durable  coal,  rich  in  combustive  properties.    Near  Myers' 
mill,  situate  on  Shaver  Creek,  which  flows  into  Six-mile  Creek, 
and  about  west  from  Cotton's  six  miles,  are  coal  signs.  Lead 
has  been  picked  up  there,  and  fragments  of  quartz.    A  pinery 
is  near  on  the  adjacent  hills.    The  wild  grasses,  undergrowth, 
grape,  shrub  and  timber,  all  through  this  portion  of  Franklin 
County,  are  the  same  as  in  Sebastian,  though  the  white  oak 
again  appears  on  Short  Mountain  Creek,  on  the  hills  at  its 
source,  and  the  pines  appear  there  also  again.    At  the  source 
of  Short  Mountain  Creek,  in  the  Short  Mountain  range,  near  the 
Franklin  and  Johnson  County  line,  about  eight  miles  westward 
from  Wm.  Fort's,  who  lives  in  S.  8,  T.  8,  R.  26,  is  "  Rich 
Mountain,"  so  called,  on  account  of  the  great  richness  of  the 
soil  on  its  slopes,  and  the  cherry,  walnut,  ash,  vines,  and  other 
lowland  growth  prevailing  there  in  exuberance.    Springs  gush 
out  from  this  mountain,  and  although,  'tis  said,  no  limestone  is 
there  exposed,  doubtless  it  exists  underneath  and  creates  this 
unusual  hill-fertility.    The  Railroad  lands  run  along  this  vicin- 
ity.   Mr.  Fort,  in  sinking  two  wells,  one  twenty-one,  and  the 
other  twenty-two  feet,  found  coal  in  both  at  the  bottom ;  the 
thickness  is  unknown,  and  the  coal  has  never  been  tested.  At 
the  head  of  Short  Mountain  Creek  pine  occurs,  and  a  mill  is 
there ;  it  is  reported  that  lead  has  there  been  seen  ;  water- 
power  on  this  stream  is  good.    After  passing  this  stream  and 
its  lowlands,  and  a  strip  of  level  upland,  we  struck  Hague- 
wood  Prairie,  which  skirts  the  river  bottom  from  the  base  of 
the  two  Short  Mountain  buttes  southward.    This  prairie  is 
beautiful,   broken,   rolling,  fertile,  covered  with  luxuriant 
grasses  and  prairie  growth,  with  springs  occasionally  gushing 
out,  and  is  underlaid  throughout  by  coal ;  shales  are  thick,  but 
the  coal  is  easily  reached.    In  the  west  corner  of  this  prairie, 
3 


34 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


towards  the  river,  below  Mrs.  Gaines',  who  lives  at  the  lower 
j   termination  of  McLean's  Bottom — numbers  not  procured — is 
I   the  Harper  or  Robinson  coal  bank,  which  has  been  worked  for 
!   years,  and  the  coal  judged  superior.    It  is  from  33  to  40 
I   inches  thick  a  short  distance  below  the  surface — two  feet  of 
soil  and  clay,  and  two  feet  of  loose  shale — and  pronounced  as 
fine  as  any  coal  in  the  whol6  field  (vide  Owen).    Other  pits 
have  been  sunk  in  this  prairie,  and  the  coal  found  similar. 
Specimens  will  be  sent  you.  In  this  portion  of  Franklin  County 
we  found  specimens  of  fossil  plants. 


JOHNSON  COUNTY,  SOUTH  ARKANSAS. 

At  Haguewood  Prairie  we  entered  Johnson  County,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Arkansas,  July  23d.    From  this  prairie  to 
Shoal  Creek,  along  the  road,  we  saw  numerous  beds  of  shale 
exposed,  with  coal  underneath,  and  found  the  same  fossil  plants, 
Timber,  range,  and  land  the  same  as  before  ;  ferruginous  sand- 
stone the  predominating  rock  ;  water  plentiful,  and  reached  in 
wells  by  digging  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet.    Shoal  Creek 
affords  good  water-power ;  the  land  is  fertile,  and  again  the 
;  pine  prevails.    Lead  has  been  found  on  its  head  waters,  in  the 
i  I  hills.    At  Byrd's,  on  Shoal  Creek,  S.  4,  T.  9,  R.  23,  quartz 
'  I  and  crystals  are  found.    One  piece  of  argentiferous  galena  has 

I  been  there  picked  up  and  tested,  found  to  yield  silver.  Speci- 
'  I  mens  of  this  have  been  promised  us,  and  we  hope  to  be  able  to 
■  I  send  them  to  you. 

I I  On  Shoal  Creek  is  Cumming's  coal  bank,  S.  32,  T.  8,  R.  23. 
1 1  The  coal  is  four  feet  thick,  about  four  feet  under  the  surface, 

improves  as  it  is  opened  deeper,  dips  to  the  northeast,  and  has 
I   been  used  for  ten  years.    The  coal  is  called  very  good.  A 
I    small  seam,  four  inches  thick,  called  Famer's  bank,  crops  out 
!   near  Cumming's  ;  this  coal,  though  very  thin,  is  said  to  be  very 
excellent.    Coal  shales  are  very  common,  the  shale  being  hard 
and  ferruginous  at  the  crossing  of  fie  Dardanelle  and  Fort 
Smith  road,  on  Shoal  Creek,  at  Mr.  R.  Sadler,  S.  6,  T.  7,  R, 

    -  .  —  —  


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  35 

23.    Near  Cravens'  mill,  Shoal  Creek  S.  4,  T.  7,  R.  23,  in  a 

small  prairie,  coal  has  been  formerly  dug.     Fossil  plants 
are  also  found  here.  Iron  darkens  every  rock,  and  great  masses  I 
of  sandstone.    The  water  power  here  is  ample  to  supply  a  far  | 
better  mill  than  the  one  now  running.    A  good  corn,  grass,  ! 
grain,  cotton  and  tobacco  country — fine  timber  and  fine  build- 
ing sandstone.    At  the  mouth  of  Shoal  Creek,  which  runs  into 
the  Arkansas  River,  and  belongs  to  the  Spadra  coal  field,  and  | 
possesses  its  characteristics,  it  is  only  heretofore  obtained  at  j 
low  water,  from  the  bed  of  the  Arkansas,  by  blasting  through  \ 
a  hard  shale  two  feet,  and  taken  out  with  long  crowbars  ;  the  ! 
coal  seam,  where  it  has  been  taken  out,  is  fifteen  inches  thick,  | 
and  of  a  most  excellent  quality.  It  is  as  good  as  the  Spadra  coal 
of  which  Dr.  Owen  gives  an  analysis  in  his  survey,  (^vide  Owen). 
Into  this  bed,  Mr.  Cox  is  sinking  a  shaft  near  the  river,  from  i 
which  he  hopes  to  obtain  the  coal  at  any  and  all  seasons  of  the 
year :  but  the  frequent  high  waters  of  the  river  have  hindered 
his  labor  and  forced  him  to  curb.     It  is  probable,  if  he  would 
sink  his  shaft  in  the  adjacent  hill — a  spur  of  the  Shoal  Creek 
range — he  would  be  untroubled  from  this  cause.    The  coal  is 
BO  excellent,  and  being  on  the  river,  that  it  is  worth  trial  and 
expense  to  reach  it.   We  have  been  promised  a  specimen  from 
this  shaft,  which  will  be  sent  you. 

A  large  fine  pinery  extends  from  the  mouth  of  Shoal  Creek 
to  Dardanelle  Rock,  Yell  County,  some  eighteen  miles,  from 
I    five  to  eight  miles  wide,  and  lies  immediately  along  the  river 
I    all  the  way.    The  country  is  broken  and  hilly  and  rough,  but 
!    there  are  some  tracts  of  uplands  tillable,  and  numerous  springs  | 
break  out;  coal  indications  and  iron  presence,  as  usual; 
the  pine  is  very  fine  ;  nearly  all  this  pine  region  is  occu- 
pied or  traversed  by  Railroad  lands.    Several  steam  mills 
are  within  it,  busily  sawing  the  trees  into  lumber.    We  give 
their  locations:    Bennett's  mill,  S.  7,  T.  7,  R.  21;  fine  tim- 
ber, springs  and  a  living  stream  of  water  near  the  mill ;  in 
the  midst  of  Railroad  lands  ;  S3ttlements  all  along  this  region 
on  Railroad  lands,  in  and  about  T.  7,  R.  23 ;  the  finest  of 


36  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

pines,  white  and  other  oaks;  sulphureted  waters  run  from  the 
hollows  of  the  hill  in  this  tract.    Wilson  and  Rogers'  mill, 
new,  on  the  river,  three  miles  south  of  Bennett's.  John 
Wright's  mill,  (Garrison's  old  mill),  new,  in  Yell  County,  ! 
near  the  Yell  and  Johnson  County  line,  on  the  rivei*,  four  miles  ! 
southeast  from  Bennett's.    Linn's  mill,  Yell  County,  inland,  | 
one  mile  from  widow  Johnson's,  S.  11,  T.  7,  R.  23,  five  miles  | 
from  Bennett's  mill,  (grist) ;  in  Yell  County,  four  miles  I 
southeast  from  Linn's  mill.    This  mill  is  on  entered  land,  but  I 
in  proximity  to  the  Railroad  lands.  Through  this  pine  region, 
up  to  the  Yell  County  line,  near  Graves',  we  discovered  coal 
shales  in  the  hills  and  iron  in  the  rock.  j 


YELL    COUNTY.  | 

Along  the  road  from  Shoal  Creek  to  Dardanelle,  we  noticed  ! 

numerous  croppings  of  coal  shales,  and  that  the  rocks  were  of  ! 

the  usual  millstone-grit  series.    On  Crane  Ci'cek,  there  is  a  | 

superior  building  sandstone  in  vast  quantity  and  great  broad  [ 

smooth  slabs     The  upland  is  very  broken,  and  not  suitable,  | 

for  the  most  part,  for  tillage,  but  covered  with  fine  timber  and  > 

grass.    Numerous  small  streams,  some  of  them  living,  wind  | 
through  this  tract ;  the  lowlands  of  the  creek  are  fertile  ;  on 
some  of  them  we  noticed  very  fine  cotton  growing. 

Magazine  Mountain,  near  Dardanelle,  T.  6,  R.  21,  is  1,410  \ 

feet  above  the  level  of  the  Arkansas  river  at  its  base.    This  is  ; 

a  table  mountain,  as,  indeed,  is  almost  the  whole  Magazine  i 
Range;  the  land  a-top  is  quite  rich  and  fretted  with  whortle- 
berry bushes  and  luscious  bearing  grape-vines.   Fertile  benches 

of  land  occur  along  the  slopes  of  this  range,  and  flowing  springs  ' 
start  out  from  its  sides  and  gorges.  Mineral  springs,  of  health- 

restoring  properties,  are  frequent,  and  the  pleasant  resort  in  1 1 

summer  for  the  invalid,  some  of  them  being  high  above  the  '| 

level  of  the  valley.    One  of  them,  a  white  sulphur,  was  for  , 

many  years  a  fashionable  resort,  and  the  water  pronounced  , 

equal  to  any  in  Virginia  or  Kentucky.    It  is  called  Dardanelle  | 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  37 

Springs,  and  is  about  nine  miles  souiihwest  -from  the  town  of 
Dardanelle.  Fine  and  commodious  (frame)  buildings  once  here 
were  thronged,  but  were  all  destroyed  during  the  war.  The 
springs  flow  out  the  hill-side,  and  the  scenery  is  uncommonly 
lovely.  It  will  regain  its  ancient  fame,  and  once  more  become 
the  resort  of  the  invalid  and  pleasure-seeker.  Oxydes  of  iron 
and  lead  are  here  both  found.  On  Magazine  Range  are  gath- 
ered quartz,  and  lead  and  iron  ores  are  known  ;  the  rock  is 
millstone-grit,  and  bluffs  out  in  enormous  masses.  On  Maga- 
zine Mountain,  very  fine,  rich  lead  ore  is  found  in  quartz  and 
calcareous  spar,  a  specimen  of  which  we  send  you.  From  this 
mountain,  for  several  miles  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  run 
a  series  of  low,  depressed  ridges,  full  of  sea-worn  pebbles, 
amongst  which  are  sometimes  seen  quartz,  flint  and  calcareous 
spar.  There  is  no  doubt  in  our  minds,  that  this  range  of  hills 
will,  when  explored,  be  found  to  possess  a  mineralogical  interest 
and  value  second  to  no  range  in  the  State.  Our  time  was  too 
short  for  us  to  give  it  even  a  flying  examination,  but  we  have 
ourselves,  heretofore,  often  been  in  this  range,  and  can  safely 
speak  of  its  character.  The  uplands,  along  the  valleys  of  this 
range,  are  remarkably  good,  and  the  timber  superb.  All  the 
productions  usual  to  the  valley  grow  here  in  great  quantity 
and  perfection  ;  indeed,  the  County  of  Yell  is  famous  for  her 
fine  uplands,  to  say  nothing  of  her  very  rich  lowlands.  There 
are  small  prairies  in  Yell  similar  to  those  in  Pope.  Between 
Magazine  Mountain  and  the  river  runs  a  considerable  tract  of 
Railroad  lands,  and  this  is  a  thickly  settled  region. 

The  town  of  Dardanelle  lies  on  S.  31-2,  T.  7,  R.  20.  The 
Dardanelle  Rock  is  something  more  than  a  mile  above. 
This  rock  abuts  immediately  on  the  river,  looking  east,  dips 
about  65  deg.  to  the  north,  and  has  evident  traces  of  the  an- 
cient heat.  The  rock  is  ferruginous  sandstone  of  the  millstone 
grit;  it  has  been  thrown  upwards  by  heat,  while  Magazine 
Mountain,  its  near  neighbor,  rests  in  place  ;  small  crystals,  ad- 
hering to  the  face  of  the  sandstone,  are  often  seen  ;  nodules  of 
iron  dot  the  entire  outward  surface  of  the  rock.    The  rock  is 


38  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

the  abrupt  termination  of  a  long  ridge  which  runs  with  the 
Arkansas  for  miles  ;  and  its  continuation,  on  the  opposite  side 
the  river,  in  Pope  County,  runs  for  miles  in  the  direction  of 
Carrion  Crow  Mountain.  At  the  base  of  the  rock,  on  the 
south  side,  a  spring  of  water  trickles,  and  the  finest  of  musca- 
dines are  found ;  on  the  north  side  the  ridge  numerous  small 
springs  burst  out — carbonate  of  iron  in  the  mountain  side. 

Below  Dardanelle,  commencing  in  the  town,  lies  as  fine  a 
tract  of  low  land  as  there  is  in  the  Upper  Valley,  and,  what  is 
unusual,  is  matched  by  one  equally  as  rich  on  the  opposite  side 
in  Pope  County.  A  great  quantity  of  cotton  was  here  raised 
before  the  war,  and  considerable  is  raised  here  to-day  ;  it 
yields  as  much  per  acre  as  any  land  above  Little  Rock. 

There  are  many  streams,  in  this  county,  of  living  water,  and 
j  on  them  are  many  mills  ;  but  of  these  we  can  only  mention  a 
!  few  ;  along  them  all  the  timber  is  fine,  and  all  the  luxuriant 
undergrowth,  vines  and  shrubs,  peculiar  to  the  Valley,  flourish. 
Petit  Jean  is  the  first  considerable  stream,  and  it  is,  indeed, 
one  of  the  greatest  tributaries  of  the  Arkansas,  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  State.  It  runs  south  of  eastward  from  the  Hills  on 
!  the  border  of  the  State,  and  its  mouth  is  in  S.  17,  T.  6,  R.  18  ; 
near  the  mouth  are  said  to  be  indications  of  petroleum.  An 
almost  unbroken  pinery  stretches  along  this  stream  to  the  hills. 
This  stream  affords  numbers  of  very  eligible  lumber  and  grist 
;  mill  sites.  The  bottom  lands  are  inferior  to  those  of  other  like 
large  streams,  but  where  they  are  rich  they  are  as  fertile  as 
any.  Coal  is  found  on  it  in  different  localities,  and  the  Petit 
Jean  may  be  said  to  flow  on  the  southern  confine  of  the  great 
coal  field.  Lead  and  tin  are  both  found  in  its  rock  along  its 
valley,  while  iron,  as  usual,  prevails  everywhere ;  some  very 
clear  crystals  have  been  found  in  this  stream.  The  Petit  Jean 
Mountain,  abutting  on  the  river,  lies  in  Sections  14,  15,  22  and 
23,  T.  6,  R.  18.  On  Dutch  Creek,  which  is  an  afiSuent  of  Petit 
Jean,  and  the  mouth  whereof  is  near  to  Danville,  county-seat, 
S.  26,  T.  5,  R.  23,  the  lowlands  are  fertile,  supporting 
already  a  goodly  number  of  population.    The  valley  of  this 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  39 

stream  lies  between  the  lofty  hills  of  the  Petit  Jean  and 
Fourche  le  Fave  Ranges.  On  this  creek,  lead  has  been  found 
in  considerable  quantities,  and  doubtless  is  rich  therein. 

Fourche  le  Fave  is  an  ever-living,  clear,  bold  stream,  only 
inferior  in  length  to  the  Petit  Jean,  superior  in  all  else.  Its 
valley  is  the  loveliest,  fairest,  richest  of  any  tributary  of  the 
Arkansas  within  the  State  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  It  is 
locked  in  by  hills,  but  its  lowlands  are  broad  and  high,  and  as 
productive  as  any  valley  in  the  region.  Great,  broad,  long 
reaches  of  fertile  uplands  flank  the  stream  along  its  length 
between  the  hills,  and  it  is  exceedingly  well  watered  in  both 
upland  and  bottoms  by  springs.  Fine  farms  lie  along  this  val- 
ley and  in  the  contiguous  uplands.  There  are  mills  on  this 
stream,  and  ample  water-power.  Wheat  grows  finely,  and 
timber  good — pine  on  the  upper  waters.  About  J.  H.  Max- 
well's, on  tills  stream,  above  Bluffton,  S.  25,  T.  8,  R.  25,  is  a 
good  pinery.  Near  the  Rocky  crossing  of  Fourche,  at  Ben- 
nett's, (numbers  not  obtained),  on  the  road  leading  from  Darda- 
nelle  to  Mount  Ida,  Montgomery  County,  lead  ore  has  been 
often  found.  A  specimen  we  send  you.  On  South  Fourche,  in 
the  near  neighborhood  of  Bluffton  and  Burnett's,  lead  was 
found  years  ago,  and  is  still  picked  up  there. 

Chikiliah  and  Reveille  Creeks,  in  the  western  and  northwes- 
tern parts  of  the  county,  are  noted  for  their  fine  lands,  timber 
and  water,  and  for  the  minerals  in  their  hills.  Chikiliah  Moun- 
tain is  in  T.  6,  R.  22 ;  and  the  Reveille  Hills  are  in  T.  6,  Sec- 
tions 26,  27,  3  i  and  35 — spurs  of  the  Magazine  Range. 

Coal  is  found  in  many  places  in  this  county  ;  shales  disclose 
all  over  the  county,  north  from  Fourche  le  Fave  ;  coal  banks 
have  been  opened  and  used  by  smiths  for  several  years  ;  speci- 
mens of  these  coals  we  have  procured,  and  hope  to  get  them  to 
you  in  season.  A.  Dane's  coal  bank  is  in  the  bank  of  a  small 
stream,  and  is  nine  miles  southwest  of  Dardanelle.  It  is  a  good 
workable  coal,  and  a  favorite  with  the  smiths ;  it  is  eighteen 
inches  thick,  and  from  five  to  eight  feet  below  surface.  It  is 
easily  quarried,  and  the  drainage  good.    One  hundred  pound 


I  —  ■ 

40  LITTLE  EOCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

lumps  have  been  taken  therefrom.    At  Goss'  bank,  three  miles 
north  of  west  from  Dardanelle,  good  coal  has  been  obtained 
and  used — the  thickness  as  yet  unknown.    There  are  several  i 
other  coal  banks  in  the  region,  that  are  marked  and  used  by  | 
;  smiths ;  their  thickness  unknown,  and  the  coal  is  of  the  same 
i  i  good  quality  as  the  Dane's,  though  that  is  preferred.    We  were 
! !  unable  to  procure  the  numbers  of  any  of  these  banks  ;  some  of 
them  are  on  railroad  lands.    The  coal  sells,  delivered  in  Dar-  ■ 
danelle,  at  thirty-five  cents  per  bushel.    Yell  County  is  a  part  I 
of  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Great  Coal  field.  ! 
Through  these  valleys,  along  these  streams,  amid  these  settle-  ; 
:   ments,  run  the  railroad  lands. 


CONWAY  COUNTY.  i 

From  Point  Remove  Bayou  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  this 
county,  the  uplands  are  broken  and  rough)  with  rock ;  yet  til- 
lable land  occurs  in  tracts.    Water  is  not  so  plenty,  yet  easy  ' 
of  reach  in  wells  from  fourteen  to  twenty  feet ;  the  range  in  i , 
portions  is  inferior,  but  the  timber  good,  white  oak  and  pine  !| 
being  absent,  or  present,  only  in  narrow  belts.     Iron  discolors  | 
the  rocks  ;  near  Lewisburg  the  carbonate  of  iron  is  heavy,  and  , 
kidney  iron  ore  is  seen  there  and  in  other  parts.    The  low-  \ 
lands  of  the  east  bank  of  Point  Remove,  and  of  the  river  down, 
are  fine  and  wide,  and  similar  to  those  described  above. 

Four  miles  from  Lewisburgh,  which  town  is  on  the  Arkan-  j 
I  sas,  the  character  of  the  millstone  grit  begins  to  change,  pre- 
I  senting  evidence  of  violent,  yet  equal  disturbance.  1 
I      Cypress  brakes  are  common,  beginning,  indeed,  before  we  j 
'  crossed  Point  Remove ;  they  continue  down  to  Little  Rock,  and 
I  thence  down,  especially  along  the  Bayou  Meto,  to  the  mouth  of  !  j 
I  the  Arkansas.  || 
!      In  this  county  we  saw  the  last  evidences  of  coal  and  its  shales,  I ' 
I  though,  in  one  or  two  places,  we  found  pits  which  had  been 
sunk  for  coal,  and  where  very  thin  seams  of  coal  had  been 


I—  j 

I  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  41  I 

I 

I  opened.    Conway  is  the  southern  boundary  of  the  coal-field  on 
I  the  northern  side  of  the  Arkansas. 

j  At  Plummer's,  on  Gap  Creek,  S.  18,  T.  6,  R.15,  a  little 
coal  has  been  found  near.  The  land  here  is  good,  and  the 
range  average.  Oxydes  and  carbonates  of  iron  are  rich,  and 
good  iron  ore,  probably  limonite,  is  found  some  miles  off ;  but 
the  iron  is  plentiful  everywhere  in  this  county,  and  future  in-  I 
vestigation  will  probably  discover  it  sufficient  in  quantity  and 
eligibility  of  situation  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  "  iron 
master."  Quartz,  quartz  crystals  and  flame-colored  quartz, 
I  are  found  on  Gap  Creek,  as  also  is  lead;  fossils  also  (coral?) 
are  found  in  the  bed.  Specimens  of  all  these  we  were  pre- 
sented with  by  Mr.  Plummer,  but  by  misfortune  were  lost.  A 
long,  low  bluff  of  ferruginous  sandstone  stretches  in  front  o{ 
Plumper's  house,  which  dips  slightly  south. 

The  uplands  between  Gap  Creek  and  Cadron,  and  eastward, 
are  level  or  little  broken  ;  are  productive,  or  capable  of  being 
made  so  ;  they  spread  out  in  wide  tracts,  and  skirt  the  river 
lowlands.  Timber  is  principally  of  black  and  post  oaks  and 
hickory  ;  no  pine,  very  little  being  in  the  county,  and  the 
white  oak  confined  to  the  streams. 

"  Sulphur"  springs  break  out  in  the  region ;  a  saline  spring 
exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  Glass  Village,  (which  is  in  Pope 
j  County,  near  the  Conway  line,)  on  the  waters  of  Point  Remove.  ! 
Salt  was  there  manufactured  in  small  quantities  during  the  | 
war.    Stronger  brine  runs,  without  doubt,  beneath.  | 
At  the  crossing  of  Cadron,  on  the  stage  road  to  Memphis,  is  ! 
!  a  steam-mill ;  the  hills  at  this  crossing  are  ferruginous  in  soils, 
j  and  the  rock  and  the  shale  which  is  there  exposed  in  the  | 
I  washes  of  the  old  road.    The  bluff  of  sandstone  and  shale,  im-  \ 
!  mediately  on  the  west  side  of  the  bottom  land  of  this  stream,  | 
j  were  upheaved,  where  they  dip  west  nearly  vertical.    The  1 
j  lowlands  of  the  creek  here  and  to  the  river  are  reddish  and  of  j 
a  waxy  consistency,  rich  and  productive,  but  difficult  to  till  in  | 
wet  seasons.    Bodies  of  this  red,  waxy  land,  occasionally  oc-  | 
cur  in  the  valley,  far  up  and  down  below  this,  and  we  venture  ' 


42  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

the  opinion  that  a  decomposed  species  of  red  porphyry  gives 
this  red  color  to  the  soil.  On  the  road,  some  three  miles  east 
of  Cadron,  we  remarked  that  the  sandstone  was  very  much 
contorted  and  fractured,  the  fissures  crossing  in  innumerable 
directions,  and  the  stone  dipping,  in  a  few  yards  distance,  west 
of  south,  northeast,  south  and  southeast.  Wc  were  approach- 
ing the  region  where  the  millstone  grit  has  been  changed  or 
penetrated  by  quartz,  slate,  granite,  porphyritic  basalt ;  where 
the  sandstone  was  altered  into  quartzite,  or  became  quartzose, 
and  where  we  met  novaculite.  Changes  were  never  more 
manifest  ;  and  Conway  presents  an  interesting  field  for  the 
study  of  the  geologist.    It  is  a  non-fossiliferous  region. 

Mr.  S.  Sevier  lives  in  S.  10,  T.  4,  R.  14.  A  very  thin  coal 
seam  is  near  here  ;  near,  also,  is  a  pinery  seven  miles  long  and 
five  wide,  through  which  run  living  streams.  The  pine  is 
i  interspered  with  some  white  oak,  and  the  trees  are  large.  The 
range  is  very  good. 

The  uplands  about  Springfield,  the  county  seat,  are  level,  or 
not  greatly  broken,  with  some  prairie,  and  are  fertile.  Water 
everywhere  reached  at  low  depths  from  the  surface. 

Through  this  described  region  of  contorted  rock,  pines,  lands 
and  streams,  pass  the  Railroad  lands. 


PULASKI  COUNTY. 
(North  op  the  Arkansas.) 

The  first  quartz  which  we  crossed,  August  1st,  was  just 
above  the  mouth  of  Palarm  Bayou,  which  flows  into  the  Ar- 
kansas, in  S.  12,  T.  3,  R.  14,  W.  This  ridge  was  partially 
covered  with  gravel  of  fragments  of  quartz,  sea-worn  pebbles 
of  various  ages,  with  here  and  there  a  massive  fragment  of 
quartz.  The  hill  is  undoubtedly  pierced  by  a  ledge  of  quartz,, 
unexposed,  which  runs,  as  does  the  ridge,  in  an  east  and  west 
direction.  At  the  mouth  of  Palarm  is  the  Palarm  Mountain, 
which  bluffs  out  almost  on  the  river  bank.  This  bluff  is  altered 


LITTLE  ROOK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


43 


sandstone  of  the  millstone  grit,  and  its  dip  is  nearly  vertical ; 
in  it  is  exposed  a  metamorphosed,  hard,  blue  quartzite  sand- 
stone, which  has  been  interjected  through  the  bluff.  On  this 
hill  lie  pebbles  of  sea-worn  sandstone,  and  large  and  small 
fragments  of  quartz,  cherty  quartz,  with  now  and  then  a  pebble 
of  silicious  rock ;  and  of  the  ridges  below  and  beyond,  west- 
ward, wherever  the  sea- worn  pebbles  are  shown,  the  same  may 
be  said.  Through  this  hill  also  runs  a  ledge  of  quartz,  east 
and  west,  unexposed ;  quartz  crystals  are  here  found,  and,  'tis 
said,  gold  has  also  been  here  picked  up  ;  the  quartz  is  doubt- 
i  less  metalliferous;  iron  ore  of  good  quality  abounds  in  the  rock. 

Here  we  first  saw  a  great  manifest  evidence  of  the  disturbance  j 
'  of  the  millstone  grit,  in  the  fused  sandstone  and  igneous  rock 
I  forced  through  the  grit  by  the  action  of  ancient  heat.  Above, 
on  the  river,  we  had  witnessed  the  uplifted  Dardanelle  and 
j  other  like  rock,  the  contortions  of  the  same  stone  in  Conway  ; 
'  but  here  we  beheld  the  quartz  and  the  metamorphosed  sand- 
stones for  the  first  time. 

The  lowlands  along  this  region  are  similar  to  those  above 
described,  the  only  difierence  we  could  discover  being  a  slight  ! 
change  in  some  of  the  minor  plants,  betokening  a  warmer  lati-  : 
j  tude.    The  slopes  and  the  rolling  upland  are  good,  the  range  : 
'  fine,  and  the  timber,  also.  \ 
From  the  mouth  of  Palarm,  some  four  or  five  miles  down  the  ; 
river,  and  six  or  seven  miles  back  from  it,  is  a  pinery ;  the  ' 
trees  are  tall  and  large.    Four  miles  below  the  Palarm  is  a  | 
steam  saw-mill.   This  pinery,  though  small,  is  on  the  Arkansas,  \ 
and  on  or  near  Railroad  lands.    Good  water  runs  here ;  in  \ 
a  well  at  Col.  Danley's,  mouth  of  Palarm,  the  water  is  exceed- 
ingly cold,  and  is  sweet  and  wholesome.    Wells  range  from  j 
fifteen  to  thirty-five  feet  in  depth,  and  are  everlasting. 

Along  our  road,  through  great  rough  masses  of  sandstone, 
from  Palarm,  we  noticed  fragments  of  unworn  quartz  in  the 
I  gravel,  and  sometimes  found  the  sandstones  incrusted  with  it, 
!  or  with  crystal  of  quartz,  up  to  Mrs.  Gilliam's,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Kellogg  mines. 


44  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

Mrs.  Gilliam  lives  on  S.  24,  T.  3,  N.,  R.  13,  W.,  on  a  ridge 
running  east  and  west ;  the  ridge  being  more  than  usually  of  a 
table  land.  Fragments  of  quartz  became  more  frequent,  and, 
as  in  the  preceding  ridges,  this  ridge  was  pierced  by  a  ledge  of 
quartz,  which  was  exposed  on  the  west  part  of  the  farm.  The 
"  vein  rock  "  is  a  pinkish  altered  sandstone,  with  gray  color 
inside  the  pink  tints  when  broken,  and  analogous  to  that  we 
afterwards  saw  at  the  Kellogg  mines,  and,  indeed,  on  nearly  all 
the  ridges,  both  sides  of  the  river,  where  quartz  was  disclosed. 

On  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  August,  we  drove  to  the  Kel- 
logg mines,  celebrated  in  the  State  of  Arkansas  for  their  mineral 
wealth.  They  are  on  Kellogg  Creek,  an  affluent  of  Bayou  Meto, , 
which  empties  into  the  Arkansas  River,  near  Arkansas  Post,  I 
and  is  the  longest  tributary  of  the  Arkansas  on  the  north  side 
thereof,  within  the  limits  of  the  State.  Flat-boats  have  been 
taken  out  from  near  the  mines,  and  the  water  is  sufficiently 
deep,  if  the  stream  were  cleared,  to  permit  steamboats  of  small 
tonnage  to  run. 

The  tract,  between  Mrs.  Gilliam's  and  these  mines,  is  an 
almost  unbroken  upland,  penetrated  by  numerous  streamlets, 
and  the  land  is  fair ;  the  grass,  vines,  shrubs,  undergrowth, 
i  and  timber  are  excellent ;  white  oak  and  pine  being  absent ; 
the  country  is,  or  can  be  easily,  well-watered.    The  lowlands 
along  the  streamlets,  and  the  Kellogg  and  other  creeks,  are 
rich.    Up  to  the  very  shafts  and  pits  sunk  at  these  mines,  the 
lands  are  productive.    The  water  in  the  wells  here,  at  these 
mines,  is  unwholesome,  being  greatly  impregnated  with  minera 
!  solutions ;  cisterns  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  constructed,  and 
rain  enough  falls,  in  the  cold  season  especially,  to  fill  them  anj 
desirable  number  of  times.    We  saw  no  better  region  for  pas- 
toral  and  stock-raising  purposes.  Sheep-farms  could  be  opened 
and  stocked  here  with  profit ;  and  wild  grasses,  vines  and  nu- 
1  tritious  herbs  are  abundant. 

I  On  Kellogg  Creek,  six  miles  from  Mrs.  Gilliam's,  and  tw( 
miles  westward  from  the  mines,  at  the  crossing  of  the  BateS' 
ville  road,  at  the  foot  of  a  ridge,  and  in  the  bed  of  the  stre 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  45 

we  first  saw  the  exposure  of  slate.  It  is  greatly  contorted, 
dipping,  where  disclosed,  west  of  south,  southwest,  and  east 
of  south.     Above  the  slate  was  clay,  with  sea-worn  peb- 

!  bles  and  fragments  of  unworn  quartz ;  the  altered  sandstone 
was  the  prevailing  exposed  rock,  and  much  of  it  was  colored  ! 
and  charged  with  iron  ;  clear  crystals  of  quartz  we  gathered  ! 
here.     On  all  these  ridges,  we  saw  quantities  of  sea-worn 

j  pebbles  of  different  ages,  and  in  the  beds  of  the  streams  water- 
worn  gravel  and  cobble-stones. 

Up  to  these  mines,  we  found  the  direction  of  the  ridges,  in 
which  quartz  is  exposed  or  lies  underneath,  as  indeed  in  other 
ridges  in  this  locality,  to  be  from  the  east  to  the  west,  inter- 
locked by  shorter  ridges,  frequently  running  north  and  south, 
or  from  northeast  to  southwest.  These  ridges,  so  far  as  we 
have  been  able  to  determine,  in  this  region  of  Arkansas  to  the 
Indian  country,  run  in  parallels,  east  and  west ;  but  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  the  metallic  veins,  in  the  whole  State,  is  from 
northeast  to  southwest. 


THE  KELLOGG  MINES. 

These  mines  are  situate  on  S.  29  and  30,  T.  3,  N.,  R.  11,  W., 
aight  miles  a  little  east  of  north  from  Little  Eock,  amid  a  range 
Df  ridges,  in  which  the  quartz  is  partially  exposed,  or  sufficiently 
]  30  to  trace  the  underlying  ledges.     The  overlying  sandstone 
'    much  altered,  of  the  pinkish,  gray  hue,  very  hard  and  brittle  : 
{the  wall  rock  is  a  hard,  blue  quartzose  sandstone,  or  a  sand-  | 
jtone  containing  so  much  silicious  matter,  that  it  is  really  an 
nferior  novaculite ;  also,  great  thickness  of  a  changed  shale  ;  | 
i  black  shale,  hardened  into  slate,  has  been  pierced  here  in  j 
ligging  shafts.    An  out-lier  of  novaculite  is  seen  exposed  in  | 
;his  range,  the  only  instance,  so  far  as  we  know,  where  it  dis-  ! 
closes  on  the  north  side  of  the  Arkansas  ;  this  novaculite  has  a  | 
jood  grit,  but  is  splintery ;  it  is  very  much  discolored  by  oxydes  | 
ind  other  metallic  influences,  much  of  it  having  a  blue  cast.  \ 
'his  range  of  parallel  quartz  ridges,  continues  up  to  the  river,  | 


46 


opposite  Little  Rock ;  and  we  are  satisfied,  from  good  evidence 
presented  on  the  surface,  that  each  and  every  ridge  is  pene- 
trated by  a  ledge  of  quartz,  where  it  is  not  deposed  by  unex- 
posed granite  or  basaltic  rock,  as  in  the  case  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  and  that  each  ledge  is  more  or  less  metal- 
bearing,  some  of  them  more  so  than  has  so  far  been  found  to 
be  the  experience  of  the  Kellogg  Mines. 

Some  thirty  shafts  have  been  sunk  in  the  ridge,  or  rather  at 
the  base  and  on  the  slope  thereof,  at  the  Kellogg  Mines.  From 
fifteen  to  twenty  of  these  have  yielded  metal  in  greater  or  less 
quantities.  Years  ago,  ore  was  shipped  from  these  mines  to 
Liverpool,  the  silver  whereof  paid  all  expenses  of  freight,  etc., 
and  left  the  lead  a  clear  gain.  And  this  was,  comparatively, 
surface  ore,  for  the  pits  were  not  deep ;  one  lump  of  the  ar- 
gentiferous ore,  weighing  sixteen  hundred  pounds,  was  un- 
earthed at  the  low  depth  of  five  feet  below  the  surface,  at  the 
base  of  the  ridge,  in  proximity  to  the  shafts  sunk,  and  not  far 
from  Kellogg  Creek.  On  the  top  of  this  ridge,  no  shafts  have, 
I  as  yet,  been  sunk  where  the  quartz  ledge  indicates  itself,  either 
I  in  out-cropping  exposures  of  quartz,  or  in  the  invariably  over- 
lying altered  sandstone.  It  is  our  opinion,  deferentially  ex- 
pressed, that  if  shafts  were  sunk  on  top  of  the  ridge,  or  tun- 
nels run  against  or  within  the  quartz  ledge  proper  which 
j  pierces  this  ridge,  the  yield  of  ore  would  be  greater  and 
continuous.  Here,  it  is  proven,  that  the  quartz  is  metalliferous 
— richly  so — and  by  piercing  its  centre,  instead  of  sinking  pits 
on  its  flank,  as  heretofore  has  been  done — the  ledge  itself  pene- 
trated— we  believe  that  the  ores  are  richer  in  quality  and  in 
continuous  quantity.  These  shafts  are  from  fifteen  to  one  hun- 
dred feet  deep  ;  metal  has  generally  been  struck  in  these  shafts 
and  pits  at  from  eight  to  twenty  feet ;  argentiferous  galena 
predominating  above  all  the  ores  here  disclosed.  The  per  cent- 
ao-e  of  silver  is  variable,  and  an  actual  average  we  are  not  able 
to  give  you.  The  ratio  is  generally  from  sixty  to  twenty-two 
hundred  dollars  per  ton  of  two  thousand  pounds  of  ore.  The 
shafts  and  pits  which  have  been  sunk  lie,  the  greater  number, 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


47 


on  the  south  side  of  the  ledge ;  they  are  quite  dry,  surface 
water  only  collecting  in  them  when  they  are  left  unworked. 
The  miner,  therefore,  need  apprehend  nothing  from  an  in-flow 
of  water  during  his  operations.  The  rock  in  the  shafts,  exclu- 
ding the  quartz,  which  is  generally  level,  except  when  it  con- 
forms itself  to  the  dip  of  the  out-lying  rock,  has  a  dip  of  from 
20  to  45  degrees.  In  the  rock,  and  about  shafts  and  pits  sunk,  | 
we  noticed  the  customary  presence  of  iron ;  from  one  of  the 
shafts,  zinc  ore  has  been  taken  and  tested,  which  yielded  richly. 
This  zinc  is  an  associate  ore,  and  found  in  all  the  shafts  where 
the  argentiferous  galena  has  been  dug.  A  specimen  of  the  zinc 
ore  we  send  you,  very  kindly  furnished  us,  as  well  as  other 
specimens,  by  C.  L.  Chamberlain,  Esq.,  Superintendent  of  the 
[Cellogg  Mines,  and  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  other  cour- 
tesies. We  send  you  also  specimens  of  the  argentiferous  quartz 
'akcn  from  the  shafts  here ;  the  deepest  shaft  here  was  sunk  at 
:he  base  of  the  ridge,  where  the  earth  and  rock  were  penetrat- 
ed for  at  least  one  hundred  feet  through  a  black  shale,  hard-  i 
med  into  slate,  with  few  sulphurets  and  no  metal.  It  was  pro- 
)erly  abandoned.  The  argentiferous  galena  vein  is  about 
-welve  feet  wide  between  the  "  wall  rocks and  the  specimens 
lent  you  are  fair  average  samples  of  the  ores,  no  care  being 
aken  to  select ;  and  a  random  collector  could  at  any  time 
iasily  obtain  the  same  from  the  mines. 

From  Kellogg  Creek  to  Little  Rock,  we  passed  over  seve- 
•al  fine  living  streams  of  water — Woodruff  and  Five-mile  | 
]reeks.  The  timber  is  good,  and  the  grass  excellent.  The 
iplands  are  tillable,  and  the  lowlands  wide,  rich  and  fertile. 
Ul  the  products  of  the  Valley  are  here  raised  in  abundance. 
Tine  springs  break  out  in  this  locality,  one  of  which,  a  Chaly- 
»eate,  in  close  proximity  to  the  city,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
l  iver,  is  bold,  full  and  famed ;  it  rushes  from  a  ridge  at  an  alti- 
tude sufficient  to  allow  the  stream  to  be  carried  into  the  city ; 
i  ts  waters  are  said  to  be  health-giving.  The  bottom  lands^ 
)i>pposite  and  below  the  city,  are  high,  dry,  fertile  and  highly 
iiultivated,  capable  of  any  amount  of  production  of  all  the 
j';rains,  corn,  cotton,  tobacco,  grasses,  and  fruits. 

-  —  — 


48  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

PULASKI  COUNTY. 
(South  of  the  Arkansas.) 

On  the  Morning  of  August  9th,  in  company  with  Mr.  James 
A.  Martin,  of  this  city,  a  gentleman  of  large  experience  in 
minerals  and  mineral  indices  of  Arkansas,  as  well  as  in  the 
topography  of  the  State,  we  left  Little  Rock  to  visit  the 

I    western  part  of  Pulaski,  the  northeast  of  Saline  County,  and 

I    a  corner  of  Perry. 

I       We  followed  the  road  leading  to  the  North  Fork  of  Saline 
I    River,  which  is  an  afiluent  of  Ouachita,  which  flows  into  Red 
i    River,  near  its  mouth  in  Louisiana.    The  road,  though  a  natu- 
ral way,  was  admirable,  and  equalled,  if  it  did  not  excel,  many 
roads  which  are  works  of  art.    This  region  is  a  most  interest- 
I    ing  geological  and  mineralogical  field,  and  to  do  it  anything 
'    like  justice  would  require  the  work  and  study  of  months.  It 
!    is  full  of  forests  of  pine,  tall,  straight  and  great  in  girth,  of 
white  and  other  oaks,  among  which  is  a  species  called  "  Cow 
Oak,"  which  bears  a  large,  long  and  nutritious  acorn,  the 
wood  of  which  is  fine  for  ship  or  boat  building,  being  preferred 
to  any  there  is  in  the  country.    The  undergrowth  is  dense,  and 
the  grape  and  muscadine  grow  in  profusion — the  grasses  are 
good,  but  not  equal  to  that  of  the  uplands  of  this  County,  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Arkansas.     The  lowlands  of  the  Saline 
I    and  its  tributaries,  are  good  and  rich,  yielding  bountifully  of 
all  the  products  usual  to  this  latitude. 

This  tract  between  Little  Rock  and  North  Fork  of  Saline, 
which  is  distant  from  Little  Rock  westward,  at  the  point  where 
we  first  crossed  it,  thirty  miles,  is  a  succession  of  low  parallel 
ridges,  growing  higher  as  we  approach  Saline  Creek.  The 
direction  is,  as  usual,  from  east  to  west,  with  occasional,  inter- 
locking shorter  ridges  running  north  and  south,  or  northeast 
and  southwest.  The  ledges  of  rock,  whether  of  slate,  quartz, 
j  novaculite,  or  altered  sandstone,  all  run  east  and  west ;  the 
I  slate,  for  the  most  part,  being  very  much  contorted  and  tilted. 
The  prevailing  rock  along  this  road  is  slate,  then  altered  sand- 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  49 

stone,  quartz  and  novaculite ;  the  slate,  quartz  and  novaculite 
have  all  been  forced  through  the  millstone  grit,  while  the  sand- 
stones are  metamorphosed  by  the  ancient  heat.  Iron  ore 
abounds  everywhere,  either  as  ore  or  as  oxydes  and  carbonates, 
in  the  rock ;  of  this  ore,  as  good  is  found  in  Pulaski  as  in  any 
part  of  Arkansas,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal.  Dykes  of  it 
protrude  in  more  than  one  locality  in  the  County.  Specimens 
of  this  ore  we  send  you — the  best  our  time  allowed  us  to  procure. 
As  Dr.  Owen  says  in  his  "  Geological  Survey"  of  this  State, 
in  regard  to  other  localities,  that  the  iron  ores  of  this  County, 
especially  the  limonite,  are  "  well  worthy  the  attention  of  the 
iron  master."  The  ores  are  here,  the  wood,  the  water,  the 
navigable  river,  the  city,  and  above,  on  the  Arkansas,  is  the 
coal  field 

The  City  of  Little  Rock  is  founded  on  a  cluster  of  depressed 
ridges  of  the  quartz  and  slate  range,  underneath  and  through 
which  lie  ledges  of  slate,  quartz,  changed  sandstone,  and  lime- 
stone, amid  which  are  infused  iron  ores.  On  top  are  found  the 
sea-worn,  water-worn,  and  unworn  pebbles  of  all  these  rocks, 
with  now  and  then  pebbles  of  silicious  rock,  and  small,  smooth 
balls  of  hard,  indurated  and  cherty  clay.  Within  the  city,  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  ledges  of  quartz,  slate,  and  strata  of  a 
recent  limestone,  crop  out ;  a  slate,  eleven  miles  southwest  of 
the  city  is  found,  which  has  a  metallic  ring,  and  is  good  roofing 
slate.  In  the  slate,  cropping  into  the  bank  of  the  river,  in  the 
midst  of  the  city,  bright  sulphurets  are  seen,  which  take  the 
exact  form  of  the  lamina  of  the  Kellogg  ores.  Around  the 
city  numerous  living  springs  burst  from  the  slopes  and  hollows 
of  the  ridges  ;  and  so  many  of  them  in  some  places  are  close 
together,  that  if  they  were  dug  out  and  united,  they  would 
form  very  large  pools  and  be  made  to  serve  profit  and  pleas- 
ure, such  as  manufacturing  mills,  parks  and  fish  ponds,  besides 
furnishing  water  for  fountains  or  use  all  over  the  city.  These 
quartz  ledges  we  believe  to  be  metalliferous.  The  limestone, 
which  crops  out  in  the  bank  of  the  Arkansas,  is  found  in  some 
of  the  wells  of  the  city,  and  lies  in  ledges  in  the  west  ridges, 

4 


50  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

two  or  less  miles  from  the  river — is  a  recent  limestone  and 
fossiiiferous — it  belongs  to  the  tertiary  period  ;  some  of  it 
has  been  burnt,  and  found  to  yield  good  strong  lime.  Speci- 
mens of  this  we  send  you.  A  great  pine  forest  once  existed  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  even  on  the  city  cite,  but  the  trees  have 
been  consumed  by  the  wants  of  the  city  though  there  yet 
stand  tall  pines,  here  and  there,  examples  of  what  the  ancient 
forest  was,  and  what  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  young 
pines,  now  growing  near,  will  become. 

Beyond  the  line  of  the  city  consumption,  wide  forests  of 
tall,  straight,  splendid  pines  yet  grow,  even  up  to  the  ridges  of 
the  North  Fork  of  Saline,  where  they  decrease  in  numbers ; 
though  pine,  more  or  less,  grows  on  every  ridge  and  hill,  from 
Pulaski  and  Perry  Counties  to  the  Red  River.  White  and 
other  oaks  are  in  great  profusion  intermingled,  as  also  other 
woods  of  the  clime,  and  in  their  usual  proportion. 

On  some  of  these  ridges  in  this  tract,  the  unworn  fragments 
of  quartz  were  so  thickly  strewn,  that  the  hill-tops  and  slopes 
seemed  to  be  covered  with  small  fragments  of  snow,  just  as  the 
sun  was  melting  the  field,  and,  in  warm  spots,  disclosing  the 
dark  earth.  The  white  color,  however,  predominated  over  the  I 
black.  These  ridges  betray  a  history  of  great  ancient  dis- 
turbance. 

Westward  from  Little  Rock,  a  short  distance  on  our  road,  ! 
beyond  the  fortifications,"  on  the  west  corner  slope  of  a  ridge,  | 
in  a  wash  of  an  old  road,  a  ledge  of  quartz,  very  much  oxy- 
dized  and  friable,  a  ledge  of  contorted  slate,  and  great  masses 
of  amygdaloid  iron  ore,  fused  in  the  old  clay,  occur.  The  sur- 
face of  the  slate  was  decomposed,  and  over  it  lay  a  thin  adhe- 
sive clay,  which  had  taken  a  blue  tint  therefrom,  and  in  which 
are  disclosed  sea-worn  quartz  and  other  pebbles  of  cherty 
quartz,  sandstone,  and,  occasionally,  flint. 

From  this  we  passed  over  quartz  and  slate  ridges,  and  by 
quartz  and  slate  croppings,  to  Ellis'  well.  Sandstone  in 
these  ridges  was  absent  or  undisclosed,  slate  predominated, 
and  the  quartz  ledges  were  forced  between  the  slate.  Ellis' 


LITTLE  ROOK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


51 


well  is  dug  on  S.  21,  T.  1,  W.,  R.  13,  W.,  at  the  foot  of  a  ridge 
on  the  southern  side,  and  is  eighteen  feet  deep.  The  diggers  first  j 
entered  soil — thin  clay  with  sea-worn  pebbles — for,  say,  four  i 
feet,  when  they  struck  a  slate  with  intercalated  veins  of  quartz. 
Here  we  found  the  rock,  quartz,  and  slate,  with  some  adhering 
altered  sandstone,  the  quartz  principally  charged  with  copper, 
and  the  rock  very  heavy  with  this  metal,  the  ore  in  the  rock 
being  of  a  pinky,  purplish,  copper  color,  and  the  taste  of  that 
]  metal  being  easily  detected.  Copper  exists  in  quantity  with- 
\  out  doubt,  and  richer,  in  the  ridge,  for  in  it,  from  the  well,  at 
!  the  foot  of  which  it  is  dug,  the  same  ledge  of  quartz  lies.  Bet- 
ter ore  will  probably  be  found  on  sinking  deeper  and  nearer 
to  the  east  and  west  ledges  of  quartz,  but  such  ore  as  is  already 
thrown  out  a  Lake  Superior  iuiner  would  work.  Specimens 
are  sent  to  you. 

The  well  is  distant,  westward  from  Little  Rock,  six  miles. 
The  water  of  the  well,  though  abundant,  is  unwholesome, 
j  being  strongly  impregnated  with  mineral. 

On  our  route  to  North  Fork  Saline,  in  different  localities, 
out-cropping  along  the  ridges,  often  forming  the  "  wall  rock" 
to  the  metal-bearing  quartz,  of  different  grades — blue,  milk- 
white,  striated,  friable,  and  oxydized  quartz,  as  it  is  seen  in  all  j 
these  ridges,  instead  of  the  usual  slate  or  altered  sandstones —  I 
we  found  ledges  of  novaculite.   This,  in  this  tract,  so  far  as  it  j 
is  exposed,  is  a  brittle  novaculite  quartz  rock,  and  too  splintery  i 
^  j  for  commerce ;  but  in  some  of  these  novaculite  ledges,  espe- 
cially those  on  or  near  Brodie  Creek,  some  seven  miles 
southwest  from  Little  Rock,  as  well  as  in  other  ledges  in  the 
vicinity,  as  they  are  wrought  out  from  the  interior,  they  be- 
come firmer,  whiter,  of  a  closer  and  more  compact  grit, 
more  capable  of  polish,  and,  deeper  down  than  yet  explored, 
may  be  found  to  equal  any  from  the  Hot  Springs  quarries,  and  ' 
therefore,  as  they  are  nearer  to  the  river,  will  be  more  valua-  i 
ble  to  the  market.    Should  these  Brodie  Creek  and  contiguous 
ledges  of  novaculite  be  explored  and  unearthed,  the  opinion 
we  here  venture  will  be  verified,  as  we  fully  believe. 


52  LITTLE  BOCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

Beyond  Ellis's  well,  on  our  road,  and  before  reaching  the 
Saline  County  line,  we  noticed  a  blue  feldspathic  rock,  which 
has  the  same  trend  as  the  quartz  and  slate  ledges ;  also,  carbon- 
ate of  iron  and  iron  pyrites,  in  a  hard,  slatish  rock.  Iron  ore, 
in  differing  presence,  and  in  or  adhering  to  the  rock,  we  en- 
countered all  along  the  route,  and,  as  everywhere  in  the 
valley,  it  betrays  itself — more  perhaps  in  Pulaski  and  Saline 
than  in  any  other  river  or  near-lying  county. 

We  crossed  the  Saline  County  line  August  10th,  at  and  near 
Hutchinson's  tan-yard,  S.  24,  T.  1,  W.,  R.  15,  W.  We 
found,  immediately  at  the  yard,  a  decomposed  slate  in  a  stiff, 
adhesive,  whitish  clay,  imbedded  in  which  were  small  pieces  of 
quartz,  slate,  and  a  great  discoloration  of  the  oxyde  of  iron. 
We  also  saw,  and  gathered  there,  fused  iron  ore,  which  the 
quartz  had  penetrated,  or  to  which  the  quartz,  in  streaks  and 
contorted,  network-like,  narrow  seams,  adhered,  or  in  which 
the  quartz  was  intercalated.    Near  this  tan-yard,  within  a  ' 
mile,  we  procured  a  close,  impervious,  mottled,  pink-white 
clay,  termed  by  artisans  "soap-stone,"  which  has  been  used  for  ! 
the  casing  of  stoves  and  for  chimney  backs,  on  account  of  its  | 
capability  to  resist  fire.    It  is  abundant,  and  is  probably  equal 
to  any  soap-stone  or  "fire  clay"  found  in  Massachusetts,  and  so 
much  used  in  commerce ;  it  is  also,  doubtless,  valuable  for  the 
manufacture  of  ware.   In  other  parts  of  the  County  of  Pulaski, 
which  we  were,  at  this  time,  unable  to  visit,  are  found  great 
beds  of  fine  porcelain  clay,  which  is  known  to  be  valuable  to 
the  manufacturers,  and  from  which  the  finest  of  ware  can  be 
made.    There  discloses,  near  this  tan-yard,  on  a  small  rivulet, 
a  dark  blue,  gritty,  micaceous  sandstone ;  and  abundance  of  py-  ' 
rites  of  iron  is  seen.    One  mile  northwest  is  a  porphyritic 
basalt,  very  hard,  very  dark,  in  which  augite  is  plenteously  dis- 
seminated.   It  is  there,  as  in  other  localities  near,  disclosed  in 
ponderous  masses.    Lamina  of  black  mica,    or    augite  (?), 
also  appears  diffused  in  the  clay.    Bright  yellow  mica  abounds 
in  a  soft,  loose  sandstone  found  near.    A  ledge  of  the  blue, 
metal-tinted  quartz  here  interlocks  with  the  ridges  running 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  53 

east  and  west.  Sulphurets  are  common  in  this  quartz,  we 
were  told ;  but  a  specimen,  at  this  time,  we  were  unable  to 
procure.  As  usual,  iron  ore  is  observed  in  the  contiguous 
ridges. 

Abundant  water  is  here  at  this  yard,  which,  saved  in  a  pro- 
per manner,  would  supply  a  tan-yard  ten  times  as  large,  and 
the  bark  is  sufficient  for  a  dozen  such  streams.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  this  whole  region  from  the  city  to  the  North  Fork 
Saline,  and  thence  across  the  Big  and  Little  Maumelles  and 
back.  A  majority  of  these  springs  and  streams  possess  so 
much  of  the  corrosive  influenc3S  from  iron,  that  the  water  has 
to  be  charged  by  neutrals  ;  but  there  are  other  springs  and 
streams  in  the  district  mentioned  where  the  water  is  wholly 
free  from  these  influences,  and  there  tan-yards  may  be  estab- 
lished with  the  greatest  profit. 

Near  the  first  crossing  of  the  Saline,  on  this  road  and  beyond, 
westward  and  northwestward,  on  the  ridges,  the  quartz  is  ex- 
posed in  great  bluffs,  making  striking  white  cliffs  in  the  land- 
scape. 

At  this  first  crossing  of  the  Saline,  in  S.  24,  T.  1,  N.,  R.  16, 
W.,  the  pebbles  in  the  ford  are  water-worn  sandstones,  with 
fragments  of  quartz  and  slate,  pebbles  of  calcareous  rock  and 
hydrated  oxyde  of  iron ;  stiff  water-resisting  balls  of  clay, 
with  minute  pebbles,  disseminated.  At  the  base  of  a  tall  ridge, 
immediately  fronting  the  North  Fork  Saline,  a  short  distance 
below  the  ford,  and  by  which  ridge  winds  a  streamlet,  we  found 
a  very  old,  hard,  blue  limestone  in  laminated  sheets  of  from 
one  half  inch  to  two  inches  in  thickness,  the  greatest 
thickness  so  far  known  being  eight  inches.  It  is  non- 
fossiliferous,  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  de- 
termine to  what  formation  it  belongs ;  it  is,  though,  a  very 
old  limestone,  for  it  existed  before  the  upheaval  of  the 
slate  and  quartz  in  this  region,  the  limestone  being  incrusted 
with  and  by  quartz  in  veins  from  two  inches  jvide  to  a  hairs- 
breath  ;  one  piece  we  observed  particularly,  a  section  of  which 
we  send  you,  where  these  hair-like  veins  of  quartz  ran  diagon- 


54  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

ally  from  each  angle  of  the  slab,  making  small  rhomb  squares 
and  fretting  the  rock  like  lace-work.  These  limestone  slabs 
can  be  here  obtained  in  any  quantity,  and  will  make  splendid 
mantles,  tops  for  tables  and  sideboards,  letter-weights  and 
other  such  like  ornamental  uses  to  which  marble  is  put.  It 
is  more  beautiful  than  marble,  the  hard,  blue,  fine-grained 
limestone  taking  a  fine  polish,  and  the  permeating  veins  of 
quartz  always  being  polished ;  it  is  a  very  uncommon  limestone, 
found  very  seldom  anywhere ;  it  has  been  burnt,  and  yields  a 
very  strong  lime.  In  this  ridge,  a  ledge  of  slate  traverses  and 
is  exposed ;  quartz  also  discloses,  and,  as  usual  in  these  ridges, 
they  run  east  and  west.  On  the  top  of  this  ridge  lives  Mr. 
Shinault,  in  S.  25,  T.  1,  N.,  R.  16,  W.  In  his  well  he  passed 
through  thin  soil  and  clay  and  sea-worn  pebbles,  say,  four  feet, 
and  then  struck  the  contorted  slate.  The  well  is  about  sixteen 
feet  deep.  All  the  wells  in  this  region,  that  we  visited,  reach 
the  slate,  some  pass  quartz,  and  they  are  from  fourteen  to 
twenty  feet  deep,  at  which  depths  water  is  plentiful.  In  this 
vicinity  is  also  seen  cropping  out  the  porphyritic  basalt.  On 
this  hill  we  noticed  a  hard,  argilaceous  sandstone,  intercalated 
with  quartz  in  great  masses,  and  water-worn,  lying  on  the  sur- 
face. On  all  these  ridges  where  this  limestone  occurs  the 
growth  is  dense  and  heavy,  the  air  was  darkened  by  the  shade, 
and  these  slopes  are  very  rich.  The  lowlands  along  the  North 
Fork  Saline  and  its  tributaries  are  here  rich  and  productive, 
and  we  passed  some  beautiful  farms. 

A  ledge  of  slate,  very  contorted,  is  exposed  for  half  a  mile 
along  Cane  Creek,  which  flows  into  North  Fork  Saline,  T.  1, 
N.,  R.  16,  W.,  S.  32.  This  ledge  of  slate  is  pierced  by  ledges 
of  quartz  and  traversed  by  interlocking  veins  of  quartz  in  many 
parts  of  it.  In  an  abutting  ridge,  a  large  ledge  of  quartz, 
with  blue  crystaline  hues,  exposes  itself,  from  which  we  obtained 
specimens,  full  of  bright  sulphurets  with  metal  form  ;  and  the 
rock  is  so  full  of  them,  that  it  glistens  from  the  angle  of  every 
fracture.  If  this  rock  be  not  metalliferous,  and  more  so  than 
usual,  the  "  testimony  of  the  rocks"  will  have  greatly  deceived 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  55 

I     not  only  us,  but  more  experienced  and  learned  men.    Near  this 
I     ledge  of  quartz  at  the  base  of  the  ridge — same  east  and  west 
!    trend — is  a  narrow  ledge  of  cherty  quartz  with  lamina  of  cal-  I 
careous  spar.    In  a  ravine  near  Shinault's,  S.  36,  T.  1,  N., 
R.  16,  W.,  is  a  wilderness  of  fragments  of  quartz,  slate,  and 
limestone,  of  the  age  above  mentioned,  with  the  same  intercal- 
ations of  quartz.    In  this  I'avine  was  formerly  a  lime-kiln  ; 
ledges  of  slate  and  quartz  are  repeatedly  exposed,  the  ledges 
of  quartz  being  interjected  between  the  slate  and,  in  instances, 
conforming  to  its  dip.    A  ledge  of  this  slate  in  the  ravine,  ex- 
posed at  the  west  base  of  the  east  ridge,  dipping  south  and 
'    nearly  vertical,  cleaves  easily,  breaking  into  broad  lamina  of 
I    two  or  three  feet  square,  which  rings  clear,  of  a  smooth  surface, 
purple  color,  and  will,  no  doubt,  make  a  good  roofing  slate. 
On  a  ridge,  near  Shinault's,  the  quartz  resembles  the  argen- 
tiferous quartz  taken  from  the  Kellogg  Mines,  the  formation  of 
the  metal  showing  very  manifest  in  pieces  broken  by  us  from 
masses  along  the  road  side.    In  T.  1,  N.,  R.  17  and  18,  W.,  and 
in  the  vicinity,  ponderous  masses,  of  a  gray  and  a  dark  por- 
phyritic  basalt,  show,  while  crystals,  "  soapstone,"  and  a  cherty 
quartz  clay,  are  found.    About  McAlister's,  S.  36,  T.  1,  N.. 
:    R.  16,  W.,  are  ledges  of  quartz  exposed,  slate  and  limestone, 
with  the  usual  sea-worn  pebbles.    On  a  ridge,  near  McAlis- 
ter's, is  a  fine  ledge  of  quartz,  much  oxydized  and  friable, 
with  also  the  blue  crystaline  hue,  which  we  believe  to  be  more 
than  commonly  metalliferous.    Black  sand  is  here  seen  after 
the  fall  of  a  rain  ;  also  in  great  quantity  on  a  ridge  near 
Brown's,  Henderson  Creek.    On  the  first  named  ridge,  is  also 
a  decomposed  talcose  slate,  much  weather-worn,  and  near  a  red 
•    soft  stone  used  for  marking  pencils ;  and,  ground  or  burnt,  it 
!     makes  a  very  good  house  paint ;  it  is  in  considerable  quantity, 
[    — specimens  are  sent  to  you.    In  Henderson  Creek,  near,  are 
I    great  quantities  of  quartz  fragments,  pebbles,  similar  to  those 
I    of  the  North  Fork  Saline,  and  crystals.  The  water  is  plentiful, 
affording  power  for  mills,  and  clear  springs  break  out  along  its  j 
banks.    The  timber,  all  through  this  region,  is  fine.  i 


56 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


At  Brasil's  Mill,  North  Fork  Saline,  S.  5,  T.  1,  N.,  R.  16, 
W.,  are  tall  ridge  cones,  crowned  with  pine.  On  the  slopes  of 
the  cones  are  bluffs  of  altered  sandstone  appearing,  and  the 
sandstone  again  becomes  more  prevalent  and  the  oftener  ex- 
posed. Quartz,  slate — both  bearing  traces  of  iron — sandstone, 
a  hard  blue  limestone,  similar  to  that  above  described,  which 
has  been  blasted  and  found  to  grow  thicker  and  harder  the 
deeper  it  is  penetrated,  flint,  and  oxydes  of  iron — we  saw  all 
around  this  vicinity.  In  Brasil's  well,  the  same  kind  of  quartz, 
with  the  copper  ore,  was  dug  out,  as  that  of  Ellis'  well. 
Southeast,  one  fourth  of  a  mile  from  Brasil's  house,  is  a  ledge 
of  quartz,  three  to  five  feet  wide,  with  abundance  of  bright  red 
tiff.  At  Barnes',  near  the  mill,  the  quartz  fragments  terminate 
almost  abruptly,  and  are  only  seen  as  scattering,  which  we  found 
to  be  the  case  a  considerable  distance  along  our  road  through 
Maumelle  valleys  and  down  the  Rocky  Creek  to  Little  Bock. 
Tlie  pebbles  are  now  almost  entirely  of  sandstone ;  and  worn 
and  unworn  masses  of  sandstone  are  everywhere  strewn  ;  quartz 
is,  however,  seen  all  along  this  region,  and  ledges  of  it  un- 
doubtedly traverse  the  ridges  undisclosed.  The  country,  from 
Brasil's  mill  to  the  dividing  ridge,  between  North  Fork  Saline 
and  Big  Maumelle,  is  rough  and  rocky ;  the  timber  is,  however, 
excellent,  and  the  range  good. 

After  passing  this  ridge,  we  strike  waters  running  into  Big 
Maumelle,  which  flows  into  the  Arkansas.  We  here  traveled 
through  a  corner  of  Perry  County  a  short  distance,  and  again 
entered  Pulaski  County. 

On  the  north  side  of  this  Maumelle  ridge,  down  a  hill  stream 
in  a  narrow  valley,  is  a  remarkable,  violent  sundering  of  the 
altered  sandstone  of  the  millstone-grit  series.  The  over-lying 
sandstone,  when  broken,  presents  the  same  hard,  glistening  sur- 
face, with  the  pinkish  gray  color  of  that  found  at  the  Kellogg 
Mines ;  deeper  down,  as  we  could  get  exposed  access,  was  the 
same  hard,  blue,  metamorphosed  sandstone.  The  ridge  was 
here,  ages  ago,  divided,  and  there  now  is  present  a  narrow 
gorge,  with  just  room  between  the  rocks  for  a  small  stream  of 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


57 


water  and  the  road.    Great  fragments  of  the  stone  lie  around, 
and  in  the  bluff  on  the  east  side  is  a  small  cavern,  called  the 
"  Rock  House,"  midway  in  the  bluff.    On  the  east  side  of  this 
cavity,  thin  seams  of  quartz  traverse  the  saudstone  in  diverse 
directions ;  quartz  fragments  also  lie  around  here.    This  gorge 
presents  a  picturesque  view,  and  is  evidence  of  the  ancient  dis- 
turbance.   Iron  presents  itself  here,  as  usual,  in  this  rock* 
The  bluffs  of  this  rock,  where  parted,  are  about  one  hundred  i 
and  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  stream.    In  this  region, 
and  along  the  Big  Maumelle,  the  sandstone  is  the  prevailing 
rock,  though  evidences  of  slate  ledges  frequently  show ;  and 
everywhere  are  seen  the  scattered  fragments  of  quartz  here  and 
there  lying  on  the  surface.      The  valley  of  Big  Maumelle 
is  an  inferior  valley  of  land,  and  the  uplands  are  corres- 
ponding.   The  timber  is  fine,  consisting  of  pine,  the  oaks,  and 
and  other  trees  ;  the  undergrowth  and  grasses  are  less  luxuriant 
and  good  than  other  regions  described.    There  is  abundant 
water  power  for  mills.    Cypress  we  saw  along  the  narrow 
marshy  flats  of  the  upper  Big  Maumelle ;  and  along  the  valley  | 
of  this  stream,  to  its  confluence  with  the  Arkansas,  are  con-  ' 
siderable  brakes  of  this  valuable  wood.    Without  doubt,  the  \ 
railroad  lands  intersect  some  of  these  brakes,  for  these  lands  ' 
run  through  this  whole  region  visited  by  us. 

At  Rainey's,  S.  27,  T.  3,  N.,  R.  16,  W.,  the  po^phyritic  basalt 
is  again  disclosed  in  the  same  like  large  masses,  as  also  at  Mrs. 
Brasil's,  two  miles  west.  This  ledge  of  basalt  runs  in  the 
same  east  and  west  direction  with  the  ledges  of  quartz  and 
slate.  At  Lamb's  mine,  S.  25,  T.  3,  N.,  R.  16,  W.,  on  the  ab- 
rupt termination  of  a  ridge  at  the  Big  Maumelle,  looking  west, 
this  basalt  is  more  exposed  than  elsewhere,  where  we  saw  it  j 
in  width  some  six  or  seven  feet,  and  exposed  depth  of  at  least 
forty  feet.  The  rock  is  vertical  in  dip,  forced  through  the 
strata  of  slate,  which  is  also  tilted  on  edge,  and  is  greatly 
charged  with  black  mica,  augite  (?),  and  is  very  dark  and 
hard.  At  the  base  of  this  ridge,  near  the  level  of  the  water, 
a  tunnel  has  been  blown  into  this  rock,  for  some  ten  or  twenty 


58 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


feet,  in  search  of  metal.  In  this  tunnel  the  outlying  hard  slate 
in  the  center  and  south  side  is  traversed  with  narrow,  ribbon- 
like veins  of  quartz.  A-top  this  ridge,  on  the  south  side  of 
the  ledge  of  basalt,  miners  are  now  sinking  another  shaft, 
which  has  not  yet  been  sunk  low  enough  to  determine  what 
lies  beneath.  So  far,  the  rock  adjacent  to  the  basalt  only  dis- 
played to  us  the  presence  of  iron,  but  we  have  since  seen  rock 
from  this  mine  which  bears  copper  similar  to  that  in  Ellis'  and 
Brasil's  wells.  No  other  metal  has  as  yet  been  found.  On 
the  height  of  the  ridge,  along  its  length,  we  observed  large 
fragments  of  quartz  crystals,  and  in  the  near  neighborhood  hy- 
drated  kidney  iron  ore  and  carbonate  of  iron  very  heavy. 
From  this,  down  the  Big  Maumelle  and  across  to  Little  Mau- 
melle,  sandstone  prevails,  and  the  region  and  series  of  ridges 
are  similar  to  those  of  the  Kellogg  Mines.  The  land  grows 
somewhat  better,  and  water  is  plentiful. 

August  14th,  we  left  Mrs.  Robinson's,  who  lives  in  S.  25, 
T.  3,  N.,  R.  15,  W.,  for  Little  Maumelle.  This  stream  flows 
into  the  Arkansas  below  the  Big  Maumelle.  It  is  a  bold,  ever- 
living,  pebbly-bottom,  beautiful  stream,  and  numerous  fine 
springs  break  into  it ;  and  the  land  is  rich  and  the  timber  un- 
surpassed. 

On  the  north  slope  of  a  tall  ridge,  near  Mrs.  Robinson's,  in 
a  deep  wash  of  tan  old  road,  the  quartz  ledges,  amid  the  slates 
were  disclosed  ;  one  ledge  of  quartz  is  very  wide,  say  fifteen 
feet,  is  greatly  oxydized,  friable,  and  splintering  with  a  light 
blow,  exhibiting  sulphurets  in  the  fractures.  The  sandstone 
predominated  in  this  and  all  the  neighboring  ridges.  The 
pebbles  of  the  first  crossing  of  Little  Maumelle,  near  the 
church,  S. — ,  T.  2,  N.,  R.  14,  W.,  were  of  water-worn  sand- 
stones, flints,  fragments  of  quartz,  slate,  and  a  black  novaculite. 
Here  is  an  excellent,  bold  spring,  and,  in  full  view,  a  tall  cone, 
on  which,  it  is  said,  lead  has  been  found.  We  had  no  time  to 
explore  this  peak,  but  it  is  worthy  of  a  thorough  survey,  and  is, 
doubtless,  penetrated  with  quartz  and  slate  ledges,  if  not  nova- 
culite.   Near  this  crossing  of  the  Little  Maumelle  is  a  great 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  PORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


59 


exposure  of  the  slate  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  which  is  great- 
ly contorted  and  twisted.  It  must  extend  to  a  vast  depth 
beneath ;  crossing  it  are  two  exposed  ledges  of  quartz,  in 
which  glittering  sulphurets  appear  in  the  fractured  fragments. 
The  usual  altered  sandstone,  tinted  often  with  iron,  occurs. 
We  here  again  come  into  a  region  where  the  quartz  gravel  is 
more  common ;  but  we  soon  passed  over  it.  About  three  miles 
from  this  ford  of  the  Little  Maumelle  is  a  high  ridge,  in  S.  17, 
T.  2,  N.,  R.  14,  W.,  on  the  steep  slope  of  which  is  a  wide  bluff 
of  out-cropping  quartz,  with  the  outlying  ledges  of  slate  and 
changed  sandstone,  as  also  a  ledge  of  dark  novaculite.  This 
quartz  has  the  crystaline  blue  tint  and  presents  often,  when 
broken,  the  sulphurets  and  forms  of  lead  and  silver,  with  also 
strong  appearances  of  copper,  alike  to  that  found  in  the  Ellis 
and  Brasil  wells.  We  found  here  numerous  disclosed  quartz 
crystals.  At  Thomas  Fletcher's,  near  by,  S.  32,  T.  2,  N.,  R. 
14,  W.,  is  another  ledge  of  quartz  and  a  wide  ledge  of  slate  ; 
this  latter  crops  out  in  Mr.  Fletcher's  yard,  and  forms  a 
natural  walk  from  his  house  to  the  gate.  In  a  hard,  blue  meta- 
morphosed sandstone,  at  the  surface,  lead  tiff  is  seen.  From 
Fletcher's  to  the  first  crossing  of  Rocky  Creek,  a  stream  i 
emptying  into  Fourche,  which  flows  into  the  Arkansas,  the  ! 
ridges  which  we  passed  disclosed  sandstone  as  the  prevailing  j 
rock,  but  fragments  of  quartz  and  out-crops  of  slate  were  com- 
mon. These  ridges  and  their  intervening  vales,  the  land, 
water,  and  forest,  correspond  to  those  described,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  infrequent  exposure  of  quartz. 

On  the  waters  of  Rocky  Creek,  near  Tan  Yard,  S. —  T.  1,  N., 
R.  14,  W.,  an  iron  ore  of  good  quality  is  apparent;  the  water 
power  of  the  creek  is  good,  along  it,  frequently,  the  sandstone 
bluffs  out  in  low  cliffs,  and  quartz  fragments  appear.  The 
sandstone  along  this  creek  and  in  the  region  around,  closely 
resembles  that  of  the  Kellogg  mines,  and  is,  indeed,  the  same. 
A  black  shale,  similar  to  that  thrown  out  at  these  mines,  crops 
out  between  the  first  and  second  crossing  of  this  creek.  The 
pebbles  between  this  creek  and  Little  Maumelle  are  almost  en- 


60 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


tirely  of  sandstone,  with  the  exceptions  above  mentioned.  The 
lowlands  along  the  creek  are  fair  and  the  upland  inferior,  but 
upon  both  is  the  usual  good  timber.  Cypress  along  the  creek, 
in  low  marshy  flats,  is  common.  The  undergrowth,  vines  and 
shrubs  are  similar  to  those  of  other  parts  of  the  country  already 
described. 

August  15th  we  left  Mrs.  Massingil's  for  Little  Rock.  Mrs. 
M.  lives  on  S.  5,  T.  1,  N.,  R.  13,  W.    The  sandstone  prevails 
around  this  place,  and  only  occasional  fragments  of  quartz  and 
disclosures  of  slate.    The  ridges  all  preserve  the  same  uniform 
direction  and  are,  beyond  doubt,  penetrated  with  quartz  ledges. 
I  On  the  ridges  along  Three  Mile  Creek,  which  is  that  distance 
i  from  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  road,  quartz  ledges  of  con- 
siderable width  crop  out,  a  great  ledge  of  it  being  in  S.  36,  T.  2, 
I  N.,  R.  13,  W.    On  the  southern  slope  of  this  ridge  is  another 
i  ledge  of  quartz,  which  is  c  olored  with  iron,  half  decomposed, 
friable,  full  of  sulphurets,  and  in  which  yellow  mica  occasionally 
glistens ;  quartz  gravel  here  is  again  more  plentiful,  and  be- 
comes thickly  strewn  towards  Little  Rock ;  iron  nodules  we 
here  found  enclosed  in  the  quartz ;  also  quartz  crystals  are  here 
gathered,  and  black  sand  is  seen  after  fails  of  rain. 

Through  all  this  interesting  region,  which  we  have  attempted 
i  to  describe  with  as  much  minuteness  as  possible,  run  the  Railroad 
lands. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

J.  W.  WASHBOURN, 
WM.  P.  DENCKLA. 


SUPPLEMENT  TO  REPORT 

FROM 
TO 


Sir  : — For  reasons,  which  will  be  personally  explained  to 
you  by  Mr.  Denckla,  we  were  unable  to  travel  up  the  Arkan-  i 
sas  to  Webber's  Falls  and  Fort  Gibson,  Indian  Territory,  ac-  j 
cording  to  your  desire.  | 

Both  of  us,  however,  are,  and  for  years  have  been,  familiar 
with  this  country,  and  I  give  you  a  brief  report  of  it,  and 
something  of  the  country  beyond.    It  is  a  region  by  far  the  I 
most  attractive  of  the  Arkansas  Valley. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Arkansas  River,  immediately  com- 
mencing about  the  mouth  of  Lee's  Creek,  the  rich  bottom 
lands  of  the  Arkansas  extend,  without  interruption,  to  the  i 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  River,  at  W  ebber's  Falls,  with  very  little  ; 
diminution  of  width,  the  bottom  being  of  the  best  on  the  river.  I 

Opposite  Fort  Smith,  in  the  Cherokee  Country,  the  lowland  is  I 
very  wide,  level,  high,  and  dry,  and  the  trees  are  astonishingly  i 
large.  A  pinery,  which  begins  on  Lee's  Creek,  nine  miles  j 
westward  from  Van  Buren,  runs  far  into  the  Cherokee  Coul-  i 
try  ;  and  through  this  pinery,  which  has  its  great  oaks  and  j 
other  trees,  are  valleys  of  fine  land  and  stretches  of  upland,  j 
with  the  best  of  grass.  It  is  unusually  well  watered.  The  } 
lowlands  of  Skin  Bayou,  Salison,  and  Viann  and  intermediate  | 
streams — all  flowing  into  the  Arkansas — are  wide  and  rich,  and  i 
their  inlying  uplands  unsurpassed.  Bold  springs  gush  out 
along  these  streams,  whose  sources  are  in  the  flint,  limestone, 
and  chert. 


62 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


At  the  mouth  of  Skin  Bayou,  sixteen  miles  from  Fort  Smith, 
is  a  superior  soap-stone,  and  coal  and  coal  shales  are  frequent 
along  its  banks.  Great  prairies  also  skirt  its  lower  length, 
and  extend  to  the  Arkansas,  and,  in  sections,  hundreds  of 
miles  westward. 

On  the  Salison,  coal  has  been  used  for  years,  and  was  dug 
there  forty  years  ago.  This  stream  is  midway  between  Forts 
i  Smith  and  Gibson.  Lead  has  also  there  been  found,  and  years 
ago  used  by  the  Indians.  Iron  ores  are  common,  as  they  are 
everywhere  in  the  Indian  Territory.  I  hare  picked  up  crystals 
of  the  clearest  water  on  some  of  the  streams  running  into  the 
Salison,  and  fragments  of  quartz  are  also  seen.  On  its  upper 
waters,  limestone  abounds,  great  springs  run,  marble  has  been 
quarried,  and  great  caves  full  of  stalagmites  and  stalactites  of 
the  most  grotesque  forms  exist.  From  some  of  these  caverns 
run  great  and  ever-flowing  springs.  The  lands  are  rich,  the 
timber  unequaled,  the  pineries  extensive,  and  the  prairies  rich 
and  very  well  watered. 

On  Viann,  between  Salison  and  Illinois  River,  iron  abounds, 
and  copper  is  found.  Great  bluffs  of  the  millstone-grit  sand- 
stones rise  up,  as  they  also  do  all  over  this  country,  and  coal 
of  good  quality  is  found;  limestone  in  bluffs,  also,  varies  the 
landscape  with  its  blue  and  gray  tints,  and  the  lands  are  very 
fertile.  The  springs  are  numerous,  and  the  grasses  and  vines 
are  more  than  ordinarily  luxuriant ;  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills 
grow  the  walnut  and  the  locust,  showing  the  richness  of  the 
soil. 

- 1  The  Illinois  River,  the  first  great  tributary  of  the  Arkansas 
River  on  the  north,  from  its  mouth,  is  a  wide,  clear,  rapid, 
pebbly,  ever-running  stream.  It  is  impossible  in  this  brief  Re- 
port to  recount  the  riches,  resources,  and  loveliness  of  this 

'  river,  reaching  from  the  fair  and  celebrated  Counties  of 
Washington  and  Benton,  of  Arkansas,  and  through  the  Chero- 
kee Country,  flowing  in  a  territory  the  most  lovely,  picturesque, 

i      and  fertile  on  the  continent.    Millstone-grit  sandstones,  mar- 

\     ble,  flint,  crystals,  quartz,  sea-worn  pebbles,  iron,  lead,  and 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  63 

copper  are  here ;  oil  springs — naphtha — that  have  been  the 
resort  of  invalids  for  years,  and  are  medicinal  and  curative ; 
great  salines  ;  rich  lands,  and  the  finest  springs  in  the  world  ; 
beautiful  prairies  and  productive  uplands  ;  great  pineries,  with 
large  forests  of  all  the  woods  peculiar  to  the  zone,  are  some  of 
the  riches  of  this  lovely  stream.    Lead  and  copper  have  there 
often  been  found.    Some  of  the  latter  has  been  assayed,  but 
I  do  not  now  remember  the  per  centage — only  that  it  was  rich.  1 1 
It  is  on  the  confines,  also,  of  a  Great  Salt  Basin,  that  extends  ' 
westward  the  entire  length  of  the  Cherokee  territory,  which  i 
is  the  103^  west  longitude.    The  saline  springs  afi'ord  very 
strong  brine,  and  some  of  them  were  worked  before  the  Chero- 
kees  purchased  this  land,  in  1828.    There  are  salines  enough  ! 
on  this  and  the  neighboring  Grand  River  to  supply  the  Missis- 
sippi Yalley  with  salt.    Very  excellent  coal  exists  along  the  | 
banks  of  this  river  :  and  near  by,  on  Spaviueau,  which  runs 
into  Grand  River,  tributary  of  the  Arkansas,  is  the  red  granite  \ 
in  great  bluffs,  which  is  the  most  beautiful  and  hardest  of  stone.  I 

This  Grand  River,  with  its  valley,  is  perhaps  the  finest  in  the  | 
whole  Southwest ;  salt  springs  and  deep  banks  of  coal  abound,  i 
and  it  deserves  a  full  and  careful  exploration.  Its  wealth  is  too 
great  to  be  here  slightly  passed  over,  and  hence  I  leave  it  to 
some  future  report  or  explorer.  Fort  Gibson  is  situated  on  this 
stream,  two  miles  from  its  confluence  with  the  Arkansas,  and 
one  mile  below  the  Verdigris,  another  noble  river,  running  into 
the  Arkansas.  A  glance  at  a  good  map  of  this  Indian  Coun- 
try is  a  good  reporter  of  its  wealth  and  value. 

From  Fort  Smith,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Arkansas,  in  the 
Choctaw  Country,  begins  the  Poteau  Bottom,  long  celebrated 
for  its  fertility,  width,  and  length.  Up  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Canadian,  the  greatest  tributary  of  the  Arkansas,  and  almost  ; 
equal  to  it,  entering  the  Arkansas  just  below  Webber's  Falls,  ! 
runs  the  fertile  lowland  of  the  river,  with  all  its  distinguishing 
growth  and  character.  Here  grows  the  "  Pride  of  China," 
wild,  with  its  thirty  feet  of  snowy  cone  in  flower.  Great,  wide, 
far-west  reaching  prairies  skirt  the  river,  and  tall  cliffs  of  sand- 


64  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

stone  also  add  beauty  to  its  landscape ;  its  lowlands  are  as 
fertile  as  any  in  the  world,  nearly  always  red  in  color — the 
stream  being  perpetually  so.  On  the  Canadian  are  vast  beds 
of  gypsum  and  shining  selenite,  of  which  I  have  seen  the  thick- 
ness of  eight  feet — enough  to  fertilize  millions  of  acres,  and 
supply  all  the  wants  of  commerce.  Coal,  lead,  sulphur,  copper, 
and  other  metals,  are  found — the  sulphur  being  often  in  the 
most  beautiful  crystals.  Sandstone  and  limestone  are  the 
general  rocks.  Great  brakes  of  tall  cedars  shade  the  bottoms 
for  miles  along  the  river,  and  the  wild  grape  and  plum  are 
like  those  found  by  Caleb.  Numberless  springs,  in  localities, 
break  out  and  run  along  their  beds  of  sand.  More  sand  is 
probably  found  here  than  on  any  other  stream  in  the  United 
States;  even  on  the  bald  prairie  buttes,  contiguous  to  the  river, 
it  lies  from  two  to  fifteen  feet  deep. 

The  North  and  Deep  Forks  of  the  Canadian  are  clear  water 
streams,  often  running  over  smooth  rock  bottoms,  the  lowlands 
of  which  are  exceedingly  rich.  Unlike  those  of  the  Canadian, 
they  are  black,  and  so  are  their  skirting  prairies,  which  are 
also  very  rich.  It  is  one  of  the  best  countries  for  stock  in 
America,  the  grass  being  tall,  sweet,  and  lasting.  Countless 
millions  of  bison,  elk,  and  deer  have  fed  upon  it  for  ages, 
and  to-day  the  grass  is  as  fine  as  it  was  forty  years  ago,  before 
any  sheep,  horses,  or  neat  cattle  fed  upon  it.  It  is  well  water- 
ed, or  can  be  made  so  with  but  little  expense. 

Between  Canadian  and  Poteau  run  several  streams — I  men- 
tion only  two.  On  Gaines'  Creek,  naphtha  is  so  common,  that  it 
permeates  the  soil,  lies  partially  solidified  on  the  ground,  and 
floats  on  the  water.  Emigrants  to  California,  and  soldiers 
during  the  war,  camping  here,  have  erected  chimnies  around 
the  orifice  in  the  bank,  and  setting  fire  to  the  native  grass,  it 
burnt  with  a  bright,  constant  flame,  giving  light  for  yards  and 
yards  around.  On  the  Sanbois  the  timber,  especially  red  oak 
— a  valuable  variety  used  for  roofing — is  extraordinarily  luxu- 
riant, tall,  large,  and  straight,  in  its  lower — in  its  upper 
section  the  prairies  are  very  rich  in  grass,  herbs,  and  vines. 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT   SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  65 


In  this  stream  have  been  found  quantities  of  the  muscle  pearl, 
some  of  them  being  large  and  beautiful.  Great  banks  of  rich 
coal  crop  out  in  this  region,  between  these  streams,  and  ' 
stretch  across  Canadian  and  its  Forks,  and  to  the  waters  of  the  i 
Arkansas.  Shales  are  deep  and  widespread.  The  region 
along  Gaines'  Creek  is  undoubtedly  rich  in  petroleum.  Salt  is 
also  found,  every  prairie  being  full  of  "  buffalo"  or  "  deer 
licks,"  and  parts  of  the  ground  often  covered  with  saline  in- 
crustations. 

In  this  connection,  I  would  remark  that,  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  organized  under  a  recent  act  of 
Congress,  have  in  view  the  construction  of  their  road,  as  pro- 
vided in  their  Charter,  from  Fort  Smith,  simultaneously  with  a 
branch  from  Springfield,  Mo.,  to  connect  with  the  main  trunk 
line  the  Valley  of  the  Canadian,  and  from  such  point  west 
along  the  35th  Parallel  to  the  Colorado  River,  and  thence  to 
San  Diego  and  San  Francisco.  Its  completion  should  be  look- 
ed forward  to  with  pleasure,  and  all  the  influence  you  can  give 
to  it  rendered  without  reluctance.  Its  construction  will  de- 
velop the  garden  of  the  Continent,  and  the  Arkansas  Valley 
will  be  its  readiest  channel  of  outlet. 

There  are  other  long  rivers  in  this  territory,  rich  and  varied 
in  their  resources,  but  I  shall  conclude  this  brief  report  with 
the  single  observation,  that  all  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the 
Arkansas,  from  Missouri  and  Arkansas  in  the  east,  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  in  the  west,  flow  through  this  territory  and 
in  it  debouch.  How  worthy  it  is,  then,  of  exploration — both  by  } 
the  mineralogist  and  the  geologist — any  one  can  see  who  reads 
this  short  and  meagre  Report. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  W.  WASHBOURN. 
J.  H.  Haney,  Esq.,  Secretary  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith 
Railroad  Co, 
5 


REPORT 

OP 

J^MES  J^.  MARTIN, 

UPON  THE 

MINERAL  REGION  NORTH  OF  LITTLE  ROCK. 


The  Granite  of  Pulaski  County  is  situated  in  Sections  22, 
23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  33,  34,  35  and  36,  T.  1,  N.,  R.  12,  W., 
and   Sections   1,  2,  3,  4   and   5,  T.  1,  S.,  R.  12,  W., 
being  situated  in  a  considerable  ridge  in  a  crescent  shape,  the 
I   points  being  to  the  south,  and  the  centre  being  north  and  near- 
j   est  to  Little  Rock  and  the  Arkansas  River,  being  distant  from 
j   Little  Rock  two  miles,  over  a  good  road.    The  Granite  on  the 
north  side  of  the  ridge  is  greatly  broken  to  pieces,'^and  of  irreg- 
ular shape  and  size,  from  the  smallest  particles  to  masses  as 
large  as  ordinary  houses,  while  at  some  localities  on  the  south 
side  it  lies  in  sheets  or  layers  over  acres,  with  only  here  and 
there  a  crack  crossing  it.    These  sheets  are  found  to  be  from, 
say,  four  inches  thick  to  any  thickness  desired. 

This  Granite  is  of  a  beautiful  steel  gray  generally,  and 
varies  in  quality  from  the  finest  to  very  coarse,  thus  affording  I 
the  workman  the  opportunity  of  choosing  any  style  or  quality 
of  stone  he  may  wish  for  his  purpose. 

George  Brodie,  from  Boston,  Mass.,  is  the  most  finished 
millwright  in  Arkansas,  and  stands  high  as  a  scientific  man 
generally.  He  has  fully  tested  this  granite  in  comparison  with 
the  French  Burr  for  millstones,  and  decides  that  the  Granites 
of  Pulaski  County  are  far  superior  to  such  French  Burr  stones. 
The  Granite  is  entirely  free  from  holes  or  pores,  as  we  find  in 
the  Burr  stone,  and  can  be  quarried  in  any  desired  size,  thus 
avoiding  patching  and  banding,  as  the  Burr  stone  requires. 


68  LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 

Water  and  timber  are  very  abundant  on  and  around  this 
Granite  ridge,  the  soil  being  rich,  and,  where  free  from  rock, 
producing  finely. 

.  Several  veins  of  quartz  pass  through  this  Granite  ridge, 
from  east  to  west,  bearing  very  strong  mineral  indications, 
and  at  the  Southwestern  part  of  the  Hill  considerable  dig- 
ging has  been  done,  a  great  while — perhaps  hundreds  of  years — • 
ago ;  and  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge  is  a  very  old  furnace,  that 
has  been  much  used.  It  is  not  known  at  this  date  who  did  the 
digging  or  built  the  furnace,  but  it  is  supposed  to  have  been 
done  by  the  Spaniards  when  they  passed  through  this  country 
on  their  way  to  Mexico. 

Some  excellent  iron  ore  appears  on  this  ridge,  on  Section 
27,  but  it  has  never  been  examined  or  tested,  and  no  conclusion 
can  be  arrived  at  as  to  its  extent. 

This  region  deserves  the  attention  and  thorough  exploration 
of  some  one  capable  of  understanding  and  appreciating  its 
worth,  and  that  capital  should  develop  the  valuable  qualities 
of  the  Granite,  and  to  induce  our  people  to  make  use  of  a  stone 
that  is  so  valuable  and  convenient  to  be  had  and  used. 

The  iron  ore  was  taken  from  two  leads,  or  rather  dikes,  situ- 
ated on  Sections  18  and  19,  Township  1,  South,  Range  13,  West. 
The  dike  of  "  specular"  iron  ore  appears  above  ground  for 
three-fourths  of  a  mile,  and  bears  about  S.  87^  W.,  and  N.  87°  E., 
and  has  had  two  or  three  shafts  started  on  it.  One  was  sunk  to 
the  depth  of  ten  feet,  and  the  iron  only  increased  in  quantity 
and  quality.  It  is  not  known  how  wide  this  dike  is,  nor  to 
what  depth  it  may  extend. 

The  other  dike  of  the  kind,  known  as  "  pot  ore"  has 
about  the  same  bearing,  distance  of  show,  and  has  been  devel- 
oped about  as  much.  It  is  supposed  these  dikes  are  inexhaust- 
ible, and  foundrymen  that  have  examined  the  ores  agree  in 
pronouncing  them  of  the  very  best  quality. 

Inexhaustible  forests  of  oak,  pine,  hickory,  and  other  kinds 
of  good  timber,  are  on  and  around  these  dikes. 

Quantities  of  a  very  strong  shell  limestone  crop  out  of  the 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO.  69 


creek  bank  on  said  Section  18,  and  also  on  Section  7,  of  same 
Township  and  Range. 

About  three  or  four  miles  south  of  these  dikes,  considerable 
beds  of  lignite  coal  have  been  found,  but  they  have  not  been 
tested,  and  it  is  not  known  of  what  value  they  may  be. 

These  dikes  of  iron  ore,  lime,  coal,  etc.,  are  immediately  on 
and  near  the  line  of  the  Cairo  and  Fulton  Railroad  survey, 
and  are  surrounded  by  a  large  body  of  most  excellent  uplands 
and  very  rich  creek  bottom  lands,  and  will  ere  long  be  an  ex-  i 
cellent  farming  region.  Many  excellent  springs  are  in  this 
region,  affording  free,  limestone,  chalybeate  and  other  kinds  of 
water ;  even  salt  water  of  the  strongest  kind  runs  boldly  out 
through  the  gray  granite  rocks  about  four  miles  S.  W.  of  these  :  | 
dikes,  near  Mr.  A.  Elrod's  place.  !  | 

j  On  Sections  4  and  5,  T.  1,  S.,  R.  12,  W,,  is  found  a  bed  or  j 
dike,  not  certain  which,  but  believed  to  be  a  dike  of  "  kaolin," 
or  porcelain  clay,  of  a  very  fine  quality,  and  seems  to  be  in  great 
quantities,  with  plenty  of  fine  timber,  good  springs  and  land 
near  by.  This  bed  of  kaolin  is  at  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  granite  ridge,  south  of  Little  Rock ;  and  on  this  ridge  is 
another  bed  or  dike  of  kaolin,  on  Sections  26  and  27,  T.  1,  N., 
R.  12,  W.,  that  appears  to  be  very  extensive.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  this  clay  could  be  used  to  great  profit,  and  only  needs 
capital  to  take  hold  of  it.  One  bed  is  within  four,  and  the  other 
eight,  miles  of  Little  Rock. 

On  Sections  2  and  11,  T.  1,  S.,  R.  12,  W.,  is  a  very  heavy 
deposite  of  iron  ore  ("pot  ore")  of  the  best  quality,  believed 
to  be  very  extensive,  as  the  show  above  ground  extends  over 
the  greater  portion  of  two  or  three  sections  of  land  ;  but  no 
examination  has  ever  been  made.  The  specimens  of  iron  ore 
and  kaolin,  sent,  are  not  the  best  to  be  had,  by  any  means,  but 
could  not  be  visited  by  Messrs  Denckla,  Washburn,  and  ' 
Martin,  and  they  had  to  take  some  refused  specimens  that  1 
had  procured  some  time  previous,  the  better  specimens  having 
been  disposed  of  before. 

I  have  visited  these  places  frequently,  and  know  their  position, 


70 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


situation,  &c.,  well,  and  know  that  much  more  could  be  said 
in  giving  a  faithful  description  of  these  valuable  localities  than 
I  have  here  attempted  to  say. 

JAMES  A.  MARTIN, 

Surveyor, 

Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  Sept,  IQth,  1867. 


ANOTHER  ARKANSAS  RAILROAD. 
This  is  the  age  of  great  railroad  enterprises,  and  we  are  glad  to  record  the  fact 
that  the  State  of  Arkansas,  so  long  neglected,  and  so  long  oblivious  to  the 
spirit  of  progress  which  distinguishes  her  more  northern  sisters,  is  arousing  from 
I    her  Rip  Van  Winkle  sleep,  and  seems  about  entering  upon  a  new  career  of  pros- 
i  perity. 

i        The  only  road  now  in  operation  in  Arkansas  is  from  Memphis  to  Little  Kock.  In 
the  Valley  of  the  Arkansas  alone,  it  is  estimated,  there  is  now  a  population  of 
considerably  upwards  of  100,000  souls,  engaged  almost  exclusively  in  agricultural 
and  pastoral  pursuits.    To  penetrate  and  develop  this  vast  and  in\nting  region, 
and  bring  it  mthin  the  bounds  of  modern  life  and  civilization,  a  road  has  been 
j     projected  from  Little  Kock  to  Fort  Smith,  a  distance  of  152  miles.    The  route 
I     was  surveyed  some  years  ago,  and  some  work  done  upon  the  road,  which  was  in- 
terrupted by  the  late  rebellion.    The  company,  however,  have  recently  re-organ- 
ized under  a  late  act  of  Congress,  and  now  wish  to  proceed  with  the  work  of  con- 
struction.   ITiey  have  an  endowment  of  ten  sections  of  land  to  the  mile  from  the 
general  government.    They  also  have  a  considerable  grant  of  lands  from  the  j 
State  of  Arkansas,  and  they  will  also  receive,  as  the  grading  progresses,  $10,000 
per  mile  in  eight  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  State.    The  lands  owned  by  this  company  | 
have  been  recently  examined,  and  are  kno^^^l  to  be  rich  in  minerals,  and  also  to 
embrace  some  of  the  finest  agricultural  and  timber  lands  in  the  Arkansas  Valle}'.  I 
The  Indian  country,  unmediately  west,  is  reached  by  this  road.   This  country  is  oc-  | 
cupied  by  several  of  the  largest  and  most  highly  civilized  tribes  in  the  United  States,  | 
viz  :  the  CherokeeS,  Creeks,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  Seminoles.    The  wonder-  j 
f ul  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  almost  Arcadian  loveliness  of  its  numerous  valleys, 
its  vast  prairies  and  inunense  forests,  and  its  mild,  salubrious  and  genial  climate, 
to  say  nothing  of  its  almost  fabulous  mineral  wealth,  which  is  everywhere  plainly 
to  be  seen,  mark  this  wonderful  region  as  the  future  seat  and  centre  of  popula- 
tion, industry  and  wealth  on  this  continent.    This  is  no  over-dra-v\Ti  picture,  but 
will  be  readily  recognized  and  confirmed  by  any  one  who  has  ever  visited  this  fair- 
est portion  of  our  immense  territory. 

Mr.  J.  H.  HANEY,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company,  is  now  in  this  city, 
with  full  authority  to  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  entire  road.  He  will 
give  all  needful  information  to  capitalists  and  railroad  men  who  may  desire  to  in- 
vestigate the  affairs  of  the  company.  The  late  hasty  mineralogical  examination 
of  the  company's  lands  has  disclosed  very  astonishing  results,  and  Mr.  Haney  will 
exhibit  specimens  of  ores,  &c.,  to  those  who  feel  interested.— [J.wmca7i  Railroad  \ 
Journal,  of  New  York.  \ 


LITTLE  ROCK  AND  FORT  SMITH  RAILROAD  CO. 


71 


MINES  AND  MINERALS  OF  ARKANSAS. 

We  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seemg  a  very  handsome  collection  of  argentiferous 
galena,  and  a  variety  of  iron,  slate,  coal,  honestone,  etc.,  all  of  which  specimens 
are  now  on  exhibition  at  Room  5,  comer  of  William  and  Pine  streets,  in  this  city, 
and  were  transmitted  by  the  promoters  of  the  "  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Rail- 
road Company."  Mr.  William  P.  Denckla,  formerly  of  California,  has  been  over 
that  State  making  a  hasty  reconnoissance  all  along  the  proposed  railroad  route, 
and  pronounces  that  part  of  Arkansas  equally  as  prolific  for  mineral  and  metallic 
wealth  as  the  States  bordering  on  the  Pacific  coast.  The  galena  ores,  and  coal 
especially,  are  evidently  great  deposits,  and  could  at  once  be  made  to  peld  treas- 
ures to  any  earnest  and  enterprising  company  or  association.  Eminent  analytical 
chemists  and  assayers  say  that  from  60  to  70  per  cent,  silver  is  contained  in  the  i 
galena  ores.  The  coal,  which  exists  in  many  layers,  is  of  a  bituminous  character, 
and  will  prove  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  railroad  enterprise  now  being  brought 
before  capitalists  in  this  city. — [American  Mining  Index,  I^.  Y. 


I 

i 


